President Barack Obama will welcome Bernie Sanders to the White House, but he won’t necessarily feel the Bern.
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There was “no formal agenda” for the meeting, White House Press Secretary John Earnest said in a statement Tuesday night.
The race between Clinton and Sanders, 74, has tightened in recent weeks, and polls show the two in a statistical dead heat for the Iowa caucus on February 1.
Obama offered an expansive view of the campaign during an interview taped last week, tipping his hat toward Clinton but avoiding a full-fledged endorsement.
With decades of political experience under her belt, Hillary Clinton finds herself in a familiar position with less than one week to go until the Iowa caucuses – but she insists this time it is different. In response to Sanders’ criticism, the Clinton campaign pointed out that she also met with African-American ministers in the city, prior to her fundraiser.
Sanders says he knows it won’t be an easy road to the White House, or if he makes it into office.
Sanders told reporters that he and Obama discussed “a number of issues, foreign policy issues, domestic issues”.
If elected, Sanders would be the oldest president to assume office, surpassing Ronald Reagan who was 69 when he entered the White House. “It must make her think of eight years ago when her failure in Iowa cost her the presidency”.
The Democratic National Committee has said it will not sanction the debate organized for next week, though it seems unlikely it will ban all three candidates from the remaining two sanctioned debates.
Despite the apparent similarities between Obama and Sanders’ Iowa runs – including their pull with young voters – the President rejected any comparison in an interview taped last week.
Although Obama has remained studiously neutral in the Democratic race, as good form demands, the meeting – and its timing – was an opportunity for Sanders to gain credibility and gravitas. Bernie Sanders have debated the issue intensely.
While Obama has not officially backed either candidate, he gave Clinton a boost Monday when he called her “extraordinarily experienced” and “wicked smart”. But the DNC did not say it would sanction it even if the three agreed.
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Obama’s candidacy helped prompt a record turnout at the caucuses in 2008; his win there helped propel him to the Democratic nomination, but not before a drawn-out and bitter fight with Clinton. “I don’t believe that at all”.
