Though she is quickly creeping toward her 60th birthday, Hillary Clinton, alongside her fellow Baby Boomers, wasted no time wishing she was younger this weekend as the Democratic presidential candidate spoke in Boston about some big changes she hopes to make at the American Association for Retired Person’s National Expo.
The New York Senator highlighted the need to reform Social Security and healthcare at the AARP’s annual event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Friday.
Clinton said she hopes to reverse President Bush’s movement to privatize Social Security, which critics have called inadequate and said will not provide financial security for everyone.
“We shouldn’t be making social security insecure on top of an insecure economy,” Clinton said. “We aren’t paying for the war in Iraq. We’re using our social security funds and borrowing money from China. I do not think that these are policies that will make America strong again. In order for us to remain the strongest country in the world, we must invest in ourselves.”
Clinton also challenged seniors across the nation to become involved in a nationwide community service program she has proposed.
“One of the legs to the stool of our lives is the relationships that we form,” she said. “It is really time for the White House to have an office of volunteerism to provide support for those around the country.
“I believe in volunteerism as an absolutely necessary part in how we take care of the country,” she continued. “I do not want to be that generation that will leave our nation worse off than we found it. I’m optimistic and confident about the future of America. There isn’t a problem we have that we can’t solve if we roll up our sleeves and work together.”
Additionally, Clinton attacked the country’s healthcare system that she said leaves approximately 47 million Americans uninsured and often reluctant or even unable to receive proper treatment.
“We need to make this a system that works towards wellness and not towards treatment when it’s too late to prevent it,” she said. “I think we can do it without eliminating choice and undermining desire.”
Clinton said she plans to announce her new plan for healthcare sometime next week. In her speech, she addressed the failed healthcare plan she helped design as First Lady in 1994.
Leonard Gordon, a professor at Arizona State University, said he was impressed at Clinton’s willingness to acknowledge previous flaws.
“She made some mistakes and she acknowledged that and learned from it,” Gordon said. “That’s the kind of leader we need, someone who can learn from their mistakes.”
“I want to be sure that we finally have, once and for all, a quality, affordable healthcare system for every American,” Clinton said. “Healthcare should not be a privilege for a few but a right for every single American.”
“She’s dynamic,” said Jim Watson, a U.S. Army veteran and postal worker from New Jersey who said he was impressed by Clinton’s demands for more bipartisan leadership. “She’s ready to be our president, and she’s got the backing.”