White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama believes Sanders’s unexpectedly close race against Clinton is good for Democrats.
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Obama has said in the past that he would not endorse candidates during the primary.
Asked whether Obama, who beat Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008, had given him advice on how to defeat her, Sanders laughed and said: “No, no”. Obama allies bristle at comparisons between Sanders and the president.
Their strategies reflect a nostalgic Democratic base that is split along demographic lines.
Sanders’ campaign responded that it would be willing to participate in a February 4 New Hampshire forum if she was willing to agree to three more debates – one each in March, April and May.
President Obama and Vice President Biden “have tried to be fair and even-handed” in the primary process, Sen. Sanders has “great authenticity, great passion and is fearless”, Obama said, but he added the senator is untested. He has talked about change coming from the bottom up, echoing a favorite Obama phrase. “Things can change, that we can overcome that cynicism”.
“When you add it all up, Hillary Clinton can’t afford to limp across the finish line in Philadelphia”, he says, “especially not when Republicans are so well-prepared and her poll numbers are in such bad shape”. “Remember that?” he said in Clinton, Iowa recently.
Obama allies have dismissed suggestions that Sanders’ campaign is following a path Obama charted eight years ago.
But Obama soon moved on to praising Clinton, who he deemed ready to begin governing as soon as she assumed the job. Foreign policy issues. Domestic issues.
“I think the American public has seen me exercising judgment in a lot of other ways”, she said at CNN’s Democratic Town Hall on Monday.
Quinnipiac polling official Peter Brown said the Iowa trend could be reminiscent of 2008, when Clinton lost the vote in the central USA state to Obama, who went on to win the Democratic nomination and the presidency. Obama has shown far more interest in pragmatism than ideological purity.
Democratic voters deserve a primetime debate on a weeknight.
Polls also forecast a strong win for Sanders in New Hampshire, the second early-voting state. A conservative group linked to GOP strategist Karl Rove is up with critical ads against her in Iowa, while Clinton allies have also framed another outside group’s ad calling Sanders “too liberal” as a coded message meant to galvanize liberals against her.
Sanders said that while he and Obama are friends who have campaigned for one another, his friendship with Clinton puts him in a “difficult position”. “I think Hillary came in with both the privilege – and burden – of being perceived as the front-runner”. “I don’t want to exaggerate those differences, though, because Hillary is really idealistic and progressive”. Increasingly, it appears, he sees Clinton as his best hope.
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By Sunday, however, Sanders emphasized his 25-year relationship with Clinton, calling her a friend he respects. “We are 90 percent covered, we gotta get to 100 percent, and then we gotta get cost down and make it work for everybody”.
