How Accurate Was Hillary Clinton’s DNC Acceptance Speech?

Hillary Clinton delivered the speech she's been waiting a lifetime for last night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, as she accepted the party’s nomination for president. Over the course of about an hour, Clinton spoke on the importance of working together for change, and thanked the people who had helped her get to the stage. But while her speech emphasized the emotional notes, it was hardly devoid of facts — some of which were more reliable than others. Fact-checkers from NPR and Politifact pointed out that several of Clinton’s claims were not entirely accurate. Her claim that the economy had gained 15 million private-sector jobs under the Obama administration was true, but not in the time frame that she said, as Politifact noted. Her assertion that, in economic recovery after the recession, 90% of the gains had gone to the top 1%, was also based on incomplete information, as the statistic has changed drastically in the past year and a half with improved gains to the middle class. She was, however, mostly right regarding the claim that many Americans haven’t had a raise in a long time. Looking to the future, Clinton’s proposal of a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to remove the influence of money in politics is fairly unfeasible, according to NPR. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, as well as the approval of 38 of the 50 states to pass, an unlikely goal in a time of partisan divide in the legislature. The Associated Press also points out that, though she’s embraced former opponent Bernie Sanders’ call for debt-free college tuition, that goal might be harder to achieve than Clinton hopes. Overall, her quibbles with factual accuracy seemed to stem mostly from situations in which there were multiple interpretations of fact, outdated data, or overly optimistic policy proposals. Politifact rated most of the points in her speech as true or mostly true, with a few half-truths, and only one false, on a misrepresentation of the extent of her bipartisan efforts. The Hamilton quotes, though? 100% legit.