Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley marked Martin Luther King Day on Monday by telling a largely black audience on the steps of the SC statehouse that King’s legacy is alive and well in today’s civil rights movement. Without naming him Monday, she said: “I don’t want to overpromise, I don’t want to come out with theories and concepts that may or may not be possible….” Sanders asked, pointing to $200,000 he said Clinton had received in 2013 to deliver a speech at investment giant Goldman Sachs.
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In words that seemed meant to remind Democrats that Sanders is an independent and not a party loyalist, she called the health care measure “one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party and of our country”.
“The Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed”. I think what I have been trying to do, and the point that I made last night, was I can’t walk down the street, as you well know, without media saying, you know, criticize Hillary Clinton, say something bad about Hillary Clinton.
Black voters make up more than half of the electorate in South Carolina’s February 27 primary and the question remains if Sanders, a 74-year-old white Vermont senator, can find new support within a black community against Clinton, whose husband was commonly referred to as the nation’s first black president before Obama’s rise. “We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance”, Clinton said and then defended Obama for taking on Wall Street. Hillary Clinton has gone toe-to-toe with Barack Obama and has a ton of experience on the pressure-filled national stage.
At different points, both Clinton and Sanders prefaced their criticism of one another with the phrase “in all due respect”.
The past few weeks have been the most combative yet in the tightening Democratic race, and Sunday night’s NBC debate was no exception.
“Hillary Clinton understands the needs of our community”, he said.
Turning to national security, both Sanders and Clinton voiced strong support for Obama’s diplomatic overtures to Iran and opposition to sending USA ground troops into Syria. But she added it was critical to constantly stand up to Putin, describing him as a bully who “will take as much as he possibly can”.
Clinton also shed some light on what role her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would play in her administration.
The debate over gun control took on a special importance given the event was just blocks from the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where nine parishioners were killed during Bible study last summer.
“It’ll start at the kitchen table? we’ll see where it goes from there”, she said with a laugh. “I’m going to ask for his advice”.
But Sanders expressed frustration over having to address Bill Clinton’s previous indiscretions.
On Sunday night, he said that yes former President Clinton’s behavior was deplorable, but I will be debating Governor O’Malley and Secretary Clinton on the issues the American people are facing not the personal behavior of Bill Clinton.
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Clinton maintained a tight smile throughout that exchange, and nodded as Sanders said he preferred to concentrate on policy matters.
