Clinton returns to campaign trail after pneumonia bout, says time off was a ‘a gift’
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Hillary Clinton is back.
After three days convalescing in her house in Chappaqua, N.Y., as polls showed her lead over Donald Trump shrinking, the Democratic nominee emerged on the campaign trail Thursday with a rally at a college in Greensboro.
She walked to the back of her plane Thursday afternoon and told reporters “Welcome back to ‘Stronger Together!’” She added that she was “doing great.”
The message of good health was hammered home once again as Clinton took the stage to the music of James Brown singing “I Feel Good.”
She has been off the campaign trail since Sunday, when she suddenly left a Sept. 11 memorial and was filmed stumbling as she entered a car. Her campaign revealed later that day that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia the Friday before.
“I’m not great at taking it easy, even under ordinary circumstances,” Clinton said Thursday, “but with just two months to go until Election Day sitting at home was pretty much the last place I wanted to be.”
She added that the time off was actually “a gift” because she talked to “old friends” and had time to think about her campaign and message.
“The campaign trail doesn’t really encourage reflection, and it’s important to sit with your thoughts every now and then,” she said. “And that did help me reconnect with what this whole campaign is about.”
Clinton’s speech was focused on her work with children and families — the second of four speeches meant to spotlight her core values and get across positive, non-Trump-focused messages, according to her aides. The first, given last week, focused on her faith. Next week, she plans two speeches: one on young people and one on the economy. The strategy is meant to boost enthusiasm for her candidacy, an indirect concession that her message has been drowned out by Trump.
“Our campaign readily admits that running against a candidate as controversial as Donald Trump means it is harder to be heard on what you aspire for the country’s future, and it is incumbent on us to work harder to make sure voters hear that vision,” senior Clinton adviser Jen Palmieri said in a statement.
For his part, Trump has spent this past week giving speeches focused on policy, including one on childcare and another on economic policy. Uncharacteristically, he has largely avoided talking about Clinton’s pneumonia.
Still, Clinton took a moment to criticize Trump in her remarks. “I’ll never be the showman my opponent is, and that’s OK with me,” she said. “But I am going to deliver for you and your family.” She also called his childcare policy “half-baked” and criticized it for focusing only on mothers.
Clinton also conceded that she had faced her share of criticism lately and over her lifetime. “No one will ever accuse me of quitting,” she said. “I’ll never give up; I’ll never walk away.”
After her speech, the former secretary of state answered six questions from her press corps, walking behind a podium in a gym and telling reporters, “Welcome to the fitness center.”
Reporters pressed her on whether she had told her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, that she was diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday. She declined to answer. “My senior staff knew, and information was provided to a number of people,” she said. “I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to quit campaigning.”
