Black Democrats question Sanders’ commitment to Obama

From health care, to immigration, the former secretary of state hugged the President tight in her debate with Bernie Sanders.

The clarification comes as both Clinton and Sanders make aggressive efforts to court African-American voters ahead of primaries in SC and other Southern states.

With tensions between the two Democrats becoming increasingly obvious, the debate was full of new lines of attack from Mrs Clinton, who faces pressure to puncture Mr Sanders’ growing popularity before the next nominating contests in Nevada and SC. After noting that “relations between the races” hadn’t gotten better under Obama, Judy Woodruff asked him: “So race relations would be better under a Sanders presidency than they’ve been?” After weeks and months of trying and failing, Hillary Clinton basically conceded that she couldn’t out-progressive Bernie Sanders, the self-styled socialist.

But it’s the issue of Obama that’s giving Sanders his toughest political challenge right now.

In theory, Clinton can not tell Priorities USA when, where, and how to spend the millions of dollars it has raised from deep-pocketed donors with her help. She said his proposal for a single-payer, Medicare-for-all healthcare plan would mean dismantling the program known as Obamacare and triggering another intense political struggle. “I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that”.

LIASSON: Sanders was dismissive and sometimes sarcastic last night, perhaps a sign of confidence after his big win in New Hampshire.

After Clinton responded to a question by saying, “once I’m in the White House”, he began his next answer by saying, “Secretary Clinton, you’re not in the White House yet”, drawing some murmurs and jeers.

Coming off an electoral bruising in the New Hampshire primary, Clinton sought to cast Sanders’ tuition-free college as one of a series of empty promises that ignore the bitterly polarized and gridlocked nature of the country.

However Sanders pushed back, it’s the first time he’s gone there, hinting he’s willing to bring up the sharp words Clinton had for Obama in their 2008 battle. His campaign contends that his message will be well-received by minority voters, arguing that blacks and Hispanics have been hurt even more by what he calls a “rigged” economy. She can’t afford to alienate the young voters who are overwhelmingly backing Sanders in the primary, if she does become the Democratic nominee. I think in terms of “us” a lot when I listen to Bernie talk.

“I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever”, said Clinton.

“Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president including a president who has done such an extraordinary job”, he retorted at Clinton.

“That’s fine”, Clinton said, going on to defend Kissinger’s policies with China as a net positive for the US “You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas”. Just a week earlier, Clinton had a 13-point lead. “In my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all our people have a decent standard of living”, Sanders said.