Hillary Clinton says inauguration poet Amanda Gorman told her exactly when she’ll run for president

Amanda Gorman enchanted spectators at Biden’s inauguration with a recital of her poem, ‘The Hill We Climb’.

But the 22 year-old isn’t finished with the Capitol yet: in fact, she plans to return as president herself one day.

This is a dream she relayed to Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential candidate ever to receive electoral votes. Only two other women have stood for high office in the US: Victoria Woodhull in 1872 and Kamala Harris who is now the nation’s first woman and first woman of colour vice president.

After meeting Gorman, Clinton tweeted:

“Wasn’t Amanda Gorman’s poem just stunning? She’s promised to run for president in 2036 and I for one can’t wait.”  

Gorman also hinted at her ambition – and the reasons behind it – during her recital, saying:

“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.”

While Gorman is at least a decade away from winning the presidency (US presidents must be a minimum of 35 years old), she has already accomplished a stunning array of achievements. As well as being the youngest-ever inauguration poet, she became the US’s first ever national youth poet at 18 years-old and completed a degree in Sociology at Harvard University. 

Gorman’s desire to run for president isn’t new. She’s previously relayed her plan to The New York Times and to her university’s student newspaper, who called her as “a self-described future candidate for the United States presidency” in 2018.

Before her recital, she joked to AP: “I’m going to tell Biden that I’ll be back". 

Gorman rubbed shoulders with numerous ex-presidents at Biden’s inauguration, including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

But she feels particularly connected to Biden because they have both overcome childhood speech impediments.

Of hers, she told The LA Times that it made her “the performer that I am and the storyteller that I strive to be”. She also shares this experience with fellow inaugural poet Maya Angelou.

If her future bid for the presidency is successful, Gorman could become the first woman and the first woman of colour to lead the free world. That is, of course, if no-one else has stepped up to the plate by then.