Hillary Embraces President Obama
Just a few days after the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton was back on stage with Bernie Sanders for the Democratic debate at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. In this debate, Hillary showed her mastery of her political platform, how she will build on the progress that President Obama has made, and sharply attacked Bernie Sanders about his criticism of President Obama.
Hillary rebuked Bernie Sanders’ past criticism of President Obama. Sanders has described the President as being “weak” and disappointment. When President Obama was running for reelection in 2011, The Washington Post reported “Sanders wondered to the media about how it might be good for someone to challenge Obama to push the president to the left. Obama had moved far to the right.” Sanders said he was making “weak” deals with Republicans. Sanders also wrote a blurb for a book titled “Buyer’s Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down” that was critical of President Obama. Hillary said that she does not expect that criticism to come from someone who is running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama.
On the issue of health care, Hillary has been steadfast in her support of the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare. She has advocated improving it by making it more beneficial to the working class. She pointed out that the single-payer health care plan that Bernie Sanders has proposed will introduce more taxes to the middle-income class as opposed to her promises of no additional tax policy. Her plan calls for taxing wealthy individuals and corporation as sources of finance. She pointed out that Sanders health care which is tantamount to Medicare for all is not realistic and cannot be passed by Congress.
Sanders has accused Hillary of having unethical connections to Wall Street. He claimed that Hillary cannot control Wall Street because of their donations to her campaign. Hillary countered that Wall Street contributed to President Obama campaign but that President Obama didn’t give them any favor for their donation. She reiterated that she had not changed her views or any vote to support Wall Street and that she will follow President Obama’s footsteps on this issue.
With President Obama’s high approval rating among the Democrats, Hillary is working hard as being seen as the keeper of his legacy, according to CNN. Building on that theme, she recently received the endorsement of the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is timely in reaching out to the African-American voters in South Carolina.
President Obama, in keeping with the tradition of not intervening in a primary election, has not endorsed Hillary or Bernie. However, it is clear that he supports his former Secretary of State and prefers her to be the nominee over Bernie Sanders. President Obama trusts that Hillary would be the most effective President in carrying forward what he has achieved.
With the approaching South Carolina primary, supporting the popular President is smart politics. Hillary’s direct pitch to African-American voters who admire and are loyal to President Obama will resonate well with this significant segment of South Carolina voters.
