Politico
By Annie Karni
June 12, 2015
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook for the first time on Friday positioned her stance on immigration directly in relation to President Barack Obama, saying she “is advocating for going even further than President Obama on immigration, to stop deporting the parents of these DREAMers who are contributing to our economy, and are valuable members of our society.”
Clinton has advocated expanding Obama’s executive actions to allow millions or more undocumented immigrants to obtain legal protection and work permits. But campaign officials in the past have used the issue to draw a distinction with the Republican field, not the president.
“Specifically in the policy that she was proposing, she wanted to make it easier for families to appeal some of these deportation decisions, parents of DREAMers who might be facing deportation,” Mook explained of the policy differences between Obama and the former Secretary of State.
In a panel discussion hosted by POLITICO Playbook Friday night, Mook was joined by communications director Jennifer Palmieri at New York University in Manhattan, in advance of Clinton’s much-anticipated kickoff rally Saturday morning on Roosevelt Island. The speech is expected to be light on policy details, but beginning this summer, Palmieri said, Clinton will begin rolling out one policy proposal each week.
The roll of former President Bill Clinton, they said, will be visible, even though he does not have a speaking roll at the kickoff event and so far has not appeared with Clinton on the trail. “We’re going to be leaning on him for fundraising,” Palmieri said, calling him a huge asset to the campaign. “We’re going to be leaning on him for retail campaigning.”
The top campaign officials were diplomatic when asked about New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who served as Clinton’s campaign manager in her 2000 Senate race but who so far has refused to endorse her and has declined to attend her kickoff.
While de Blasio’s connection to Clinton is well known, Mook revealed he also has a personal bond with the mayor. “Bill de Blasio is a very good friend,” Mook said. “I remember bringing up a whole caravan of cars to help volunteer on his Public Advocate race.”
But he seemed to gently push back against de Blasio’s attempts to build for himself a national profile as a progressive leader by refusing to back Clinton. “He has got a lot going on running New York City,” Mook said. “He’s busy with that. He’s been a strong advocate on a lot of issues, that’s great. We all have the same goal here and that is to get this deck unstacked against the middle class.”
Mook also downplayed the influence of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on moving Clinton to the left. “There have been a lot of folks out there weighing in,” he said. “She’s one of many voices.”
Palmieri also said the campaign was open to an appearance by Clinton on “Saturday Night Live,” where she is mocked as maniacally power-hungry and unrelatable by comedian Kate McKinnon. Clinton resisted such a move in 2008.
“The idea has merit,” Palmieri said, admitting the entire team found the Clinton impersonation hilarious. “SNL has been a great platform for her, it’s been a great platform for President Obama.”
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