On Saturday, Bill Clinton campaigned on behalf on Hillary Clinton at three events across Ohio. Rallying crowds before this Tuesday’s primary, Clinton flew in to Portsmouth where he stopped for coffee and visited with local residents and kids from the Autism Project of Southern Ohio. He then went to his first rally in Cincinnati where he focused on Hillary’s plans to help those in Ohio and across the country. He said that she is the best presidential candidate to raise wages and break down racial, social, and economic barriers. He also took a shot at the Republican race for president saying it was like watching a “sixth-grade playground fight.”
This afternoon, Bill attended a rally in Akron where he cautioned the crowd in regards to the recent violence at a number rallies held by Republican front-runner, Donald Trump. Clinton referenced a conversation he once had with Nelson Mandela to make his point that anger and violence is not the answer to our problems. Mandela famously forgave those who imprisoned him in South Africa, but even he admitted there was a time when he hated them. Clinton said that Mandela told him, “I realized they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. Those things I would have to give away. And I decided not to give them away. And then he looked at me and said ‘neither should you’.”
Clinton’s final event of the day was a Get Out the Vote rally in Toledo. During the event the at University of Toledo, Clinton was joined by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly. The focus of the conversation was gun violence and the need for strict background checks for all purchasers of firearms. Clinton said Hillary would stand up to the NRA and protect innocent victims of gun violence by ensuring that guns to do wind up in the wrong hands. Videos from today’s events will be posted when/if available.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
In an op-ed published in Time, Hillary Clinton voiced her support for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which began today in Paris. Clinton called climate change a threat to the United States because it affects our economy and health. She criticized those who have denied climate change is occurring and the affect humans have had on it. The full text of Clinton’s op-ed is below.
Climate change threatens every corner of our country, every sector of our economy and the health and future of every child. We are already seeing its impacts and we know the poorest and most vulnerable people in the United States and around the world will suffer most of all.
Despite the seriousness of the threat, the world has not always rallied to respond. For years, international negotiations were stymied by deep divisions between developed and developing nations, and by resistance on the part of the Chinese and others to taking responsibility for curbing carbon pollution. While President Obama has made strong progress cutting pollution and deploying more clean energy in the United States, he faces a Republican Party that alternates between denial of the reality of climate change, defeatism about our ability to do anything about it, and outright obstruction of the tools and programs we need to solve the problem.
But President Obama remains committed to making the United States the global leader in the fight against climate change—and so do I. In Paris this week, world leaders have the best chance in years to forge a new, durable, ambitious international climate agreement. I believe they must be guided by three principles. First, all countries must take responsibility for combating this global crisis, and put forward commitments to curb their own greenhouse gas emissions. Second, the agreement should galvanize financial assistance for, and spur private investment in, developing countries to help them adapt and achieve sustainable economic growth.
And finally, it must be an agreement that can be strengthened over time. Countries should agree to come together regularly to raise their collective ambition. In the years ahead, technology will improve and become even cheaper; more companies and investors will put skin in the game; and city and state leaders will take actions that outstrip the ambitions of their capitals. Solving the climate challenge for the long term will take more than the solutions we have in 2015—it will require the new tools we build together.
In Copenhagen in 2009, President Obama and I had to burst into a secret meeting of leaders from China, India, Brazil, and South Africa to break a deadlock and deliver the first international climate agreement in which all major economies, not just the developed world, pledged to take action.
We’ve come so far since then. Over the past year, 164 countries accounting for 90 percent of global emissions have announced national targets and measures to reduce pollution that they are ready to codify in Paris, recognizing that cutting emissions and investing in clean energy isn’t just good for the planet—it’s good economic sense. The United States and China led the way with ambitious goals to cut carbon pollution and deploy more clean energy, and have already begun taking action to achieve them.
Still, getting the job done in Paris will require skillful diplomacy and robust American leadership — I know that from personal experience. As Secretary of State, I put combating climate change on the agenda for my first trip to Beijing and kept it there over the next four years. I appointed the first high-level special envoy for climate change and led an international effort to launch the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to reduce so-called “super pollutants” that make up just a fraction of emissions, but drive a disproportionate share of warming.
As President, I will protect and build on the progress President Obama has made at home. I will set ambitious goals—to see 500 million solar panels installed within four years and enough renewable electricity to power every home in America within 10 years. I’ll also pursue a new North American Climate Compact, because the United States, Canada and Mexico should work together to build a clean energy future for our continent.
And the Republican deniers, defeatists and obstructionists should know—their cynical efforts will fail. Not only are they on the wrong side of science and of history, they are increasingly on the wrong side of their own voters, as a majority of Republicans accept the science of climate change, and support solutions like clean energy.
We must reject the false choice between combating climate change and fostering strong economic growth. If any country can prove that, it’s the United States. Under President Obama, we’re leading the world in the fight against climate change. I won’t let anyone to take us backward, deny our economy the benefits of harnessing a clean energy future, or force our children to endure the catastrophe that would result from unchecked climate change.
Once again, the world looks to Paris—this time in hope. Global challenges demand global solutions. The fight against climate change will be long. It will take the efforts of every country, every industry, and every community. It will take the leadership of every President. But at last—in Paris—the framework of a lasting solution is within reach. We must seize this moment.
Hillary Rodham Clinton received the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize from the Lantos Foundation. During her acceptance speech, she spoke about Tom Lantos’ contribution to human rights efforts. Clinton spent the majority of her speech discussing the life and legacy of South African leader Nelson Mandela, who passed away on December 5 at the age of 95.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 