Clinton Comes to Indiana in a Populist Package
The candidate presents herself as a working class hero -- so far, it's working.
May 5, 2008— -- Sen. Hillary Clinton is a multimillionaire who has graced the cover of Fortune magazine with the glitzy headline "Business Loves Hillary!"
The former first lady has accepted millions in campaign donations from Wall Street, and she has a solidly liberal voting record in the Senate.
But on the campaign trail these days, Clinton, D-N.Y., has repackaged herself as a working class hero, while branding Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. — who grew up working class with a single mother sometimes on food stamps — an elitist.
"There is a big difference between us and the question is this: Who will understand what you are going through, and who will stand up for you?" said the Wellesley and Yale Law School alumna, whose family reported more than $109 million in income since leaving the White House in 2001.
Many of the positions and rhetoric would have been unimaginable for Clinton right before the Iowa caucuses, when she worked to appease antiwar liberal Democrats.
But now she talks tough on Iran — threatening to "obliterate" the country if it attacks Israel with a nuclear weapon. The woman whose name the National Rifle Association says is synonymous with gun control, now attacks Obama in mailers, suggesting he is insufficiently supportive of gun rights.
Here in Indiana, this pitch seems to be working.
"Her work ethic and her working class roots really stuck to me," said Indianapolis Democratic voter Ken McGuffey. "Her determination to get where she wanted to get."
"Number one: She's brilliant," Pat McGuffey chimed in, in support.
It's a clear choice Clinton is laying out for voters on the trail: Wall Street vs. Main Street.
"Why don't we hold these Wall Street money brokers responsible for their role in the recession?" Clinton said Sunday in Indianapolis, before the state's primary on Tuesday.
Clinton campaign strategist Geoff Garin clarified on a conference call with reporters today, saying the Clinton campaign is glad to have the support of those on Wall Street who "probably share her value of shared prosperity."
