Hillary Clinton Lincoln Speech about Race Relations - Laments G.O.P.’s decision - July 13, 2016

Описание: Hillary Clinton speaks at the Old State House in Springfield, IL about race relations. Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech there in 1858

On the grounds of the Old State Capitol here, where nearly 160 years ago, Abraham Lincoln held forth on “a house divided,” Hillary Clinton on Wednesday lamented the Party of Lincoln’s transition to the Party of Trump, casting the present moment as an indelible stain on Republican history.

Yet even as she savaged Donald J. Trump as an existential threat to American democracy, a week before Republicans plan to nominate him for president in Cleveland, Hillary Clinton set off on a delicate balancing act of her own.

She waded with care into the thickets of national reckonings over police violence and violence against the police, hoping to position herself as an unlikely agent of harmony.

And in an uncharacteristic admission, Hillary Clinton assumed responsibility for at least a small measure of the fractiousness in the national discourse.

“I cannot stand here and claim that my words and actions haven’t sometimes fueled the partisanship that often stands in the way of our progress,” she told a small audience that crowded beneath a grand ceiling here. “So I recognize I have to do better, too.”

Though Hillary Clinton has for weeks stressed unity as the binding theme of her campaign — making speeches in front of “Stronger Together” signs — the staging on Wednesday was particularly unsubtle.

She immediately invoked President Lincoln, quoting from his speech on June 16, 1858.

She spoke slowly and sternly, as if narrating a documentary, railing against a litany of national hardships: gun violence, economic inequality, an overreliance on the police to remedy societal ills.

She suggested reassuringly that America had overcome much more than its recent pain and political fury.

“The challenges we face today do not approach those of Lincoln’s time. Not even close,” she said. “But recent events have left people across America asking hard questions about whether we are still a house divided.”

For a candidate not known for soaring oratory, and often not especially comfortable pursuing it, the venue was something of a risky choice, inviting comparisons to some of the most stirring speakers in American history. Nearly a century and a half after Lincoln condemned slavery here, Senator Barack Obama stood before the Capitol in February 2007 to announce his bid for president.


Follow Us @ Twitter or Facebook:
  / usnoxcom  
  / usnox  


Date: July 13, 2016
Candidates: Hillary Clinton