Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic frontrunner, bemoaned the partisanship that she says has become normal in Washington now that lawmakers don't spend any real time together in a speech to a group of camp professionals.
“I don't think there's any substitute for building relationships. I just don't,” Clinton told the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey in Atlantic City.
Clinton said when she was a U.S. senator from New York that she worked with Republicans and Democrats.
“I did a lot of reaching across the aisle, working with people who have a lot of political differences with me,” she said.
Following the speech, the Republican National Committee disputed her record.
“Records matter and Hillary Clinton’s lip service to bipartisanship doesn’t hold up against the fact she toed the Democrat Party line 96 percent of the time while in the Senate and has stood shoulder to shoulder with President Obama and his divisive, left-wing agenda,” RNC spokesman Michael Short said. “And after her recent Twitter tirades attacking Republicans, who does Hillary Clinton think she’s fooling?”
The event marked the last known paid speech for Clinton, who is expected to announce her candidacy for president in April. The non-profit group confirmed it is paying Clinton, but declined to say how much.
Clinton has given dozens of speeches since leaving office as Secretary of State, many for free and many drawing paychecks of as much as $200,000 to $300,000.
The American Camping Association promotes the camping experience by matching children with summer camps and conducting training sessions for staff. About 3,000 attended the group’s Tri-State Camp Conference.
Clinton did not mention running for president, but made the audience laugh as few times with lines like this: “Politics in the United States can be rough.”
Not surprisingly, she spent much of her time talking about camps, saying that adults, too, should attend camp. She said adult camp would consist of red and blue cabins, but people would have to come together and listen to each other.
After her 25-minute remarks, she was asked questions about herself from a camp official who happens to be a member of the Democratic National Committee, Jay Jay Jacobs, in a format designed to let the audience get to know her better. For example, she told them she likes to read mysteries and American history and that she would have liked to be a teacher if not politician.
At the end, camp officials presented Clinton with a “Camp David” sweatshirt.