(NEW YORK) — In the speech she says she would have given had she won the 2016 presidential election, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have challenged the country and spoken to her mother about becoming the first woman elected to the White House, according to excerpts of a video made public Wednesday.
“Fundamentally, this election challenged us to decide what it means to be an American in the 21st century and by reaching for a unity, decency, and what President Lincoln called the better angels of our nature,” Clinton said as she read from a draft of her speech, quoting a line from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address.
“We met that challenge. Today with your children on your shoulders, neighbors at your side, friends, old and new standing as one, you renewed our democracy. And because of the honor you have given me, you changed its face forever.”
Clinton is sharing the speech she never gave in a new online class being released through MasterClass, a subscription service where experts, celebrities, and politicians share video classes teaching skills. Her class, which releases on Thursday, is part of the platform’s “The White House” series where other politicians, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, are giving political insights and lessons, according to MasterClass.
Excerpts of Hillary Clinton’s class and the speech were aired on NBC’s “Today” broadcast, in an interview with “Sunday Today” host Willie Geist, and online on Wednesday. Clinton told Geist that she chose to revisit the speech because “I wanted to be as helpful as I could to the viewers and to the process of being in a MasterClass.”
In the video released by MasterClass, Clinton became emotional reading a section of her speech about her mother, Dorothy Rodham, who passed away in 2011.
Dorothy Rodham overcame a challenging childhood. Her parents sent her away by train at age 8 to live with her grandparents, and Rodham was forced to find work as a maid at age 14.
Clinton, chocking up, said, “I think about my mother every day. Sometimes I think about her on that train… I wish I could walk down the aisle and find the little wooden seats where she sat holding tight to her even younger sister. Alone; terrified. She doesn’t yet know how much she will suffer. She doesn’t yet know she will find the strength to escape that suffering.”
“I dream of going up to her and sitting down next to her, taking her in my arms, and saying look at me. Listen to me. You will survive. You will have a good family of your own and three children. And as hard as it might be to imagine, your daughter will grow up and become the president of the United States,” Clinton read.
The excerpts of the drafted speech also included the vision Clinton said Americans had of “a hopeful, inclusive, big hearted America. An America where women are respected and immigrants are welcomed; where veterans are honored, parents are supported, and workers are paid fairly.
“An America where we believe in science, where we look beyond people’s disabilities and see their possibilities, where marriage is a right and discrimination is wrong… we all have a role to play in our great American story. And yes, that absolutely includes everyone who voted for other candidates or who didn’t vote at all.”
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