Hillary gets political again

Washington, March 29 (IANS) US President Donald Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has made her most political comments since losing the 2016 presidential election, slamming the new administration for its policies relating to women, race and health, a media report said.

"There is no place I'd rather be than here with you," Clinton said on Tuesday at a San Francisco diversity conference, before adding: "Other than the White House", CNN reported.

During her keynote address at the annual event hosted by the Professional Business Women of California, Clinton spoke largely about women's equality and peppered in criticism of the President and the Republican Party.

"Obviously the outcome of the election wasn't the one I hoped for, worked for, but I will never stop speaking out for common sense benefits that will allow moms and dads to stay on the job," Clinton said.

Besides a few comments in public gatherings and tweets from her personal account, Clinton has largely laid low since the November 8 election.

She was spotted after the election in the woods near her New York home along with her husband former President Bill Clinton. She also attended Trump's inauguration.

She called Republicans' attempted replacement for the Affordable Care Act "a disastrous bill," adding that the Trump administration has been "met with a wave of resistance" that indicates the protests against Trump's policies are just getting started, the CNN report said.

During the question and answer session of her appearance, she grew incredulous at the GOP health care debate.

"Really? Take away maternity care?" Clinton said. "Who do these people talk to?"

Clinton also focused on issues like inclusivity and diversity of women in the workplace and the need for the private sector to make better efforts to bring more women to the table.

"Advancing the rights and opportunities of women and girls is the great unfinished business of the 21st century," she said, while noting that women's representation in Washington is "the lowest it's been in a generation."

The former Secretary of State also responded to racially charged incidents on Tuesday directed at two prominent black women -- April Ryan, a longtime White House correspondent and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

Women of colour, said Clinton, have "a lifetime of practice taking precisely these kinds of indignities in stride."

But overall, Clinton offered an optimistic tone in the face of Trump's victory. She offered the audience her new mantra: "Resist, insist, persist, enlist", CNN reported.

She encouraged the audience to "resist actions that go against our values as Americans"; insist on "putting people first"; "persist" like Senator Elizabeth Warren did when she was prevented from reading a letter written by Coretta Scott King about Senator Jeff Sessions, and "enlist" others by running for office or opening a business.

"I'll be right there with you every step of the way," she said.