Hillary Clinton tells Biden’s inaugural poet to run for president amid wave of praise

Former presidential nominee urged 22-year-old to aim for White house in 2036

Graeme Massie
@graemekmassie
Wednesday 20 January 2021 21:42 GMT
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Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman’s amazing ceremony reading

Hillary Clinton has praised inauguration poet Amanda Gorman and says she should one day run for president.

Ms Gorman made history as the youngest poet in modern history to read one of their works at a presidential inauguration.

The Los Angeles native read her poem, titled “The Hill We Climb” to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the Capitol ceremony.

Ms Gorman, 22, posted a picture with Ms Clinton and former president Bill Clinton to Instagram, with the caption “Selfie of my year”.

Ms Clinton then reposted it with her own message that read: “Mine, too!”

The former Democratic presidential nominee then took to Twitter to praise the recent Harvard graduate and to encourage her political ambitions.

“Wasn’t @TheAmandaGorman’s poem just stunning? She’s promised to run for president in 2036, and I for one can’t wait,” tweeted Ms Clinton.

According to the US Constitution, the president must be at least 35-years-old, and Ms Gorman would be old enough to legally take office then.

Ms Gorman won widespread praise for her energetic reading of the poem, which she says she finished on the night of the 6 January Capitol violence.

She opened her poem by saying, "We braved the belly of the beast".

“We've learned that quiet isn't always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn't always justice,” she continued.

“And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished.

"We, the successors of a country and a time, where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one."

Ms Clinton was then tweeted at by former Star Trek star George Takei, who said, “I imagine @HillaryClinton is feeling pretty damn good today.”

“Accurate," replied Ms Clinton.

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