Hillary Clinton Tests Campaign Themes: ‘Working Together,’ Income Inequality

Hillary Clinton is testing out a pair of campaign themes ahead of her likely entry into the 2016 race for the White House. One theme is a bow to the attack she is getting from left-wing Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Clinton floated the two themes during her appearance at an event at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank based in Washington D.C.

Media reports have Clinton set to deliver her announcement of entering the race for president in April, but already the former Secretary of State is trying out campaign themes.

At the Monday event, Clinton tested both “Working Together” and a concern over income inequality as possible selling points for her run at the White House.

During a union-sponsored panel about American cities, Clinton criticized the “ideological” arguments in which the country is engaged. She called the constant fighting “unproductive.”

Clinton complained that “people are just in their ideological bunkers, having arguments instead of trying to reach across those divides and have some solutions,” and insisted that the first steps to ending that fighting might happen in the nearby Capitol building.

But stung by attacks coming from her left, Clinton also struck out on a discussion of income inequality, a favorite theme pushed by left-wing Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Warren has been increasingly the subject of pleas from Democrats to run against Clinton for the nomination. Many in the media are echoing that call. Over the weekend, The Boston Globe issued a call in four separate editorials for Warren to run for president.

Hewing to that theme of income inequality, Clinton said, “A lot of our cities truly are divided. They have some of the most dynamic, well-educated, affluent people in the world, and people who are trapped in generational poverty.”

Senator Warren isn’t alone in hitting Clinton from the left with income inequality. Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has also focused on income inequality as a possible campaign theme as he sets up his own ground game to run for the Democrat nomination.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.