MASON CITY | Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed four challenges she pledged to meet head-on during a campaign appearance Monday in Mason City.
Speaking to a group of about 60 invited guests at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, a gay married couple, she said she wants to continue to strengthen the U.S. economy, to protect the Affordable Care Act, to fix what she called "our dysfunctional political system" and to have a strong approach to alleviating problems around the world.
She drew her loudest applause from the partisan audience when she criticized the letter signed by 46 members of Congress concerning the proposed agreement on nuclear arms with Iraq.
She called the action outrageous. "We have one president and we should stand behind him," she said.
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"There are many ways to approach problems but we must do it with support not only of our allies but with our own country," she said.
Clinton said President Obama deserves credit for steps he has taken to improve the economy. "We are back on our feet, but we are not running yet," she said.
The way to do that, she said, is to build the economy of tomorrow with good jobs and rising wages — and equal pay for women who are doing the same job as men.
She talked about other income inequality in America.
"I heard the other day the top 25 hedge fund managers in the United States made more money last year than all of the kindergarten teachers combined," said Clinton.
She tied a strong economy with a strong family life and an emphasis on education, starting prior to kindergarten. "Parents are children's first teachers," she said.
Clinton supports Obama's proposal to make community college free and said something must be done to make all of college education affordable.
“The average college graduate in Iowa has $30,000 in debts," she said.
Regarding the Affordable Care Act, Clinton said 16 million Americans now have health insurance who didn't have it before the act was passed. "I will fight to protect it," she said.
She said in talking with people on the campaign trail, she has discovered three health issues that continually are brought up — drug addiction, untreated mental health problems and teen suicides.
On the topic of campaign financing, Clinton said the issue of "dark money" in politics needs to be addressed. She said the Supreme Court did a great disservice when it allowed large corporations to contribute millions of dollars to individual campaigns.
"I will appoint Supreme Court justices who will protect the right to vote and not the right to buy elections," she said.
She made her remarks in the large living room of Genth and Swenson's home with news media crowded behind a wet bar in the back of the room and Secret Service and other security keeping watch. Â
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