The influential progressive think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) ended a day-long celebration of its tenth anniversary with one very high-profile keynote speaker: former first lady, senator and secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. In her brief remarks to the staff of CAP and other attendees, Clinton thanked the organization for its work on behalf of progressive policies.
Progressives, said Clinton, believe in “the values of justice and freedom of opportunity and equality; that everyone the world over deserves …the chance to live up to their God-given potential to participate fully in the economic, political [and] social lives of the places where they were born and live.”
Although the 2016 presidential election will not formally kick off for a couple of years, Clinton’s speech comes at a time of heated speculation over whether she intends to run again. Earlier in the day, the Ready For Hillary PAC announced that billionaire Democratic mega-donor George Soros was coming onboard as a co-chair for the group’s national finance council.
But Clinton’s remarks to CAP dropped few-to-no hints of her future plans. Instead, the former secretary of state spent most of her time discussing CAP’s history, praising its staff, and applauding its policy research and advocacy, which she said was “based on data and evidence, not ideology.”
CAP’s current president, Neera Tanden, is a former Clinton staffer. John Podesta, one of CAP’s founders and its current chairman, worked in the Clinton White House as chief of staff. Each of them spoke prior to Clinton, with Tandem being the one to introduce her former employer.
Ned Resnikoff is an urban policy analyst, researcher, writer, and editor. His byline has appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Dissent, and The Nation. He writes the newsletter Public Comment, which can be found at publiccomment.blog.