While some people here think that movements can (and should) arise devoid of leadership, that leadership somehow cheapens a movement, Hillary Clinton doesn’t seem to think so. Mrs. Clinton sounds like she wants to be the leader of the Democratic Party IN ADDITION to being President.
MADDOW: How will you change the Democratic party?
CLINTON: …If you look at the first two years of my husband’s administration, you look at the first two years of President Obama’s administration and then what happened? They pushed through a lot of changes. They pushed through regulation on guns, they pushed through the Affordable Care Act. They pushed through a lot. The deficit reduction plan, the Dodd-Frank regulations.
What happened? Democrats didn’t show up in the midterm elections. So here’s how I want to change the Democratic party: I want to be absolutely clear that when we have a Democratic president we have to support that Democratic president and we have to show up in midterm. And we have to elect governors and state legislatures and county officials because that’s how you have the kind of broad based political campaign and the momentum you need to get change at all levels.
Right now majority of states are run by Republican governors and we see what they’re doing. On choice, on voting rights, on LGBT rights. It makes a difference so my job will be to make sure that the Democratic party is producing results through our elected officials, electing more Democrats and then convincing our supporters to turn out and vote in midterm elections.
MADDOW: What’s the Democratic party doing wrong now that that’s not happening?
CLINTON: I think that we are a party that is very focused on presidential elections. That is just the way it seems to have historically (INAUDIBLE) …
MADDOW: You think that can be changed?
CLINTON: I do absolutely think it can be changed. I want to have the kind of emphasis on reaching out to voters and concerned citizens and elected officials that doesn’t just happen every four years, that happens every month of every year. And that is — if you take a lesson from what the Republicans have done. They’re in trouble right now but they never quit working on electing Republicans, on creating the kind of base that they need to put people into office and we need to be doing exactly the same thing.
