Here’s something you’re probably going to hear a lot over the next four years: Hillary Clinton, the people’s president.
The former secretary of state spoke Wednesday evening at a Children’s Defense Fund gala in Washington. It was her first public appearance since she made her concession speech the morning after Donald Trump’s stunning election victory.
Prior to taking the stage, Clinton was introduced by CDF founder and president Marian Wright Edelman, who dubbed the failed presidential candidate that evening the “people’s president.”
“In 2016, former senator and secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination of a major party for president of the United States of America,” Edelman said.
She added, “And to win the popular vote. So we are going to say she is the people’s president. As of the most recent count, 1,221,480 have said she is our president, and she is our president.”
Clinton’s remarks focused mostly on CDF’s work, but she also commented briefly on her crushing loss to Trump.
“I know this isn’t easy, I know that over the last week a lot of people have asked themselves if America is the country we thought it was,” the former secretary of state said.
“I will admit, coming here tonight wasn’t the easiest thing for me. There have been a few times this past week when all I wanted to do was curl up with a good book or our dogs, and never leave the house again,” she said, adding in reference to Martin Luther King Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long and it bends toward justice. Sometimes it can feel awfully long. Believe me, I know. But it does bend.”
Though Clinton lost the Electoral College to Trump, she is currently leading in the popular vote by 1,339,019 votes. Unsurprisingly, this unexpected turn of events has some in the media calling for the abolition of the Electoral College.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell cheered Sen. Barbara Boxer’s, D-Calif., bill to abolish the Electoral College, telling his viewers that it “always has to be remembered in every discussion of this election.”
“Hillary Clinton got more votes. … the world looks at us and cannot fathom, what is this Electoral College and how does the person who came in second win the presidency?” he asked.
The Nation published a call to action titled “The Electoral College Has To Go. Sign Our Petition.” Slate put out a story titled “Yes, We Could Effectively Abolish the Electoral College Soon. But We Probably Won’t.”
And so on.
Absent from most of these discussions are mentions of Clinton’s own weaknesses as a candidate. A full 62 percent of likely voters said prior to the election that she was untrustworthy and dishonest. Clinton also suffered from 55.4 percent unfavorable rating, and she lagged 10 points behind Trump with voters who said they were “very enthusiastic” about their candidate.
For now, media pundits and politicos seem content to focus on criticizing the Electoral College, while touting the popular vote.
If Edelman’s remarks Wednesday evening are any indication, expect to hear Clinton referred to as the real president of the United States for at least the next four years.
