Hillary hangs tough- doesn’t trade punches with Obama, criticizes “imperial” presidency

A confident, focused Hillary Clinton took the stage as the last of the three presidential candidates to speak at the annual Associated Press luncheon this afternoon. Clinton focused on promoting the initiatives she supports and, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, avoided slamming her Democratic adversary Barack Obama and Republican opponent, John McCain.

The introduction to Clinton’s speech was similar to McCain’s, in that it discussed her support of a “shield law” to a crowd composed of mainly journalists, whom she thanked for their “courage” to report the news.

Clinton, like Obama’s speech did Monday afternoon, discussed the “power of the presidency” that she claimed has been abused under the Bush Administration. Clinton noted her intention to eliminate the “imperial” presidency Bush operates under. She criticized the current administration for “ignoring” and “rewriting” laws as they see fit.

Clinton forecast a multitude of challenges the incoming administration will have to face (fixing the economy, maintaining national security, and solving the crisis in Iraq), as she painted a portrait of herself as a leader, and longtime advocate of programs focused on helping all Americans, such as universal health care.

While Obama’s speech opened by discussing how the struggles he faced growing up have helped him understand how to relate to “everyday” Americans, Clinton modestly mentioned that she understood she was “blessed” to grow up in a middle-class household and, with government aid, fund a law-school education.

Clinton described her presidency as one that would restore the “evidence based decision making” that the Bush Administration, she argued, has strayed away from. Clinton called for an “immediate freeze on housing foreclosures” and, when asked about the role played by race in the election, said she wanted voters to base their decisions on the candidates based on their policy views, not gender or skin color.

As Clinton’s speech came to a close, she mentioning the tremendous economic success America achieved under her husband, Bill Clinton, and the lessons she learned watching him build an American powerhouse.