Hillary Clinton used the first major rally of her second run for the White House Saturday to make a populist case for her presidential campaign, declaring that the goal of her presidency would be to tip the nation's economic scales back toward the middle class's favor.
Clinton used her gender to cast her candidacy as historic and forward-looking. And she used the story of her mother, Dorothy Rodham, to show that she understands the challenges of climbing out of poverty.
RELATED: Read the full transcript of Hillary Clinton's speech
"Prosperity can't be just for CEOs and hedge fund managers. Democracy can't be just for billionaires and corporations," she told a crowd of 5,500. "Prosperity and democracy are part of your basic bargain, too. You brought our country back. Now it's time, your time, to secure the gains and move ahead."
The rally's geography, on a narrow island in New York City's East River, offered a stirring contrast between the towering Manhattan skyline and working-class Queens. It allowed for nods at both Clinton's experience -- the former secretary of state pointed at the United Nations headquarters, and she represented New York as a senator for eight years -- and at the economic contrast that was the focus of Clinton's speech.
Rather than delving into policy specifics, Clinton unveiled a laundry list of issues that her campaign says she'll address in-depth -- one per week -- through August.
She touched on a host of Democratic priorities, including increasing the minimum wage, offering paid family leave, implementing equal pay legislation and protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace. And she said she plans to push measures that would offer tax benefits to companies that invest in long-term growth in the United States, and penalize those that shelter money overseas.
Those issues will be important in a Democratic primary battle where Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's identified himself as a socialist, now represents Clinton's stiffest challenge.
In perhaps Clinton's most emotional portion of the speech, she told the story of her mother, Dorothy Rodham, who was abandoned and working on her own as a housemaid by age 14. She said she once asked her mother what kept her going, and her mother's response was "kindness from someone who believed she mattered."
"A first-grade teacher who saw she had nothing to eat at lunch, and without embarrassing her, brought extra food to share. The woman whose house she cleaned letting her go to high school so long as her work got done -- that was a bargain she leapt to accept," Clinton said. "And because some people believed in her, she believed in me."
What Clinton didn't address stood out, too. The day after House Democrats rejected the free trade agenda of the current Democratic president, Clinton didn't mention the Trans-Pacific Partnership. While she attacked hedge fund managers, she used the words "Wall Street" just once, despite her proximity to the financial district, and didn't identify bad actors by naming specific people or firms.
RELATED: In kicking off campaign, Hillary to emphasize more Rodham, less Clinton
Clinton did, though, personalize what she identified as the problems with Washington, and she assigned blame. She hit the Supreme Court, saying the country needs justices "who will protect every citizen's right to vote rather than every corporation's right to buy elections."
And she hit Republicans, including the party's presidential field, on issues ranging from gay rights to immigration and voting rights. The GOP, she said, will "trip over themselves promising lower taxes for the wealthy and fewer rules for the biggest corporations, without regard for how that will make income inequality even worse."
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