Former Sec. Hillary Clinton may have just unveiled her general campaign slogan or, at the least, her campaign’s guiding principle.
When asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” what the “big idea” of her candidacy is she replied, “Look, we are stronger together. We are stronger together, in facing our internal challenges and our external ones.”
She then went on to repeat the phrase “stronger together” three more times.
In fairness, “stronger together” is not a completely new theme. The campaign put a web video out with that title in April. She also often uses the phrase on the trail in the context of comprehensive immigration reform and in the same breath when she draws a contrast with Trump.
However, her focus on it could point to the campaign sidelining “Fighting for Us” in favor of a line that could be seen as a subtle rebuke to some of what Donald Trump has said on the campaign trail. But Clinton was not understated about her desire to move beyond the Democratic primary and focus on Trump. In the battle of slogans, she had this to say:
"There's no evidence he has any ideas about making America great, as he advertises. He seems to be particularly focused on making himself appear great. And as we go through this campaign, we're going to be demonstrating the hollowness of his rhetoric."
And to a question about whether there is anything in Trump’s background that is “praiseworthy”, Clinton responded coyly, “We'll find out. Because we have to get below the hype. We have to find what the reality is.” She also attacked him for not releasing his tax returns and proving “that he actually has the level of success he claims to have.”
“I’M IN A STRONGER POSITION”
Clinton, while not backing away from her declaration that she is “going to be the nominee”, did sound as though she was trying to be sympathetic to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ situation.
“I think that Senator Sanders has every right to finish off his campaign however he chooses. I do think there will then be the obvious need for us to unify the party. I faced the same challenge in 2008,” the former Secretary of State said.
She promised to do her part and reach out to Sanders’ and his supporters but that she expects him to do his part as well.
“He said…he was going to spend seven days a week trying to defeat Donald Trump and I believe that is the case,” she said.
But there may still be some frustration behind her talk of party unity.
"I don’t think he's had a single negative ad run against him," Clinton said when asked if she thought Sanders has been "vetted".
According to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Clinton is beating Trump by three points but in a hypothetical match-up against Trump, Sanders is beating him by 15 points.
When asked if that points to Sanders being more electable Clinton dismissed the polling and responded, “People have voted for me overwhelmingly in the Democratic primary process...I just think that I’m in a much stronger position.”
“AN ADVISORY ROLE”
Clinton raised a few eyebrows last week when she said she would put former President Bill Clinton “in charge of revitalizing the economy because, you know, he knows how to do it.”
She expanded on his role a bit on NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
“You know, every First Lady has taken on special projects. And I think my husband's understanding of how to get this economy moving in places that have been left behind will be incredibly valuable," the former Secretary of State said. She also touted his "track record in creating jobs" and "revitalizing communities."
Watch the full interview here:
