Reuters
February 12, 2016
Democratic
presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed
sharply in a debate on Thursday over their support for President Barack
Obama, with Sanders
accusing Clinton of "a low blow" after she compared him to Republicans.
As
the Democratic race moves to states with large minority populations,
both candidates openly courted black and Hispanic votes during a debate
that was far more restrained
and cordial than last week's contentious debate in New Hampshire.
In
the sharpest exchange of the night, Clinton attacked Sanders for being
too critical of Obama, who is extremely popular with the black voters
who will play a big role
in the outcome in South Carolina and other upcoming nominating
contests.
"The
kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our
president, I expect from Republicans, I do not expect from someone
running for the Democratic nomination
to succeed President Obama," said Clinton, who served as secretary of
state during Obama's first term.
"Madam
Secretary, that is a low blow," said Sanders, a U.S. senator from
Vermont. Sanders said he had been an Obama ally in the Senate even if he
did not always agree
with him.
"Do senators have the right to disagree with the president?" Sanders said.
Clinton,
who has eagerly embraced Obama's legacy, said Sanders had called Obama
weak and a disappointment, and "that goes further than saying we have
our disagreements."
With
Clinton looking to rebound after her crushing 22-point loss to Sanders
in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, the two also differed over
healthcare and Wall Street.
Even
so, the restrained exchange on Thursday was unlikely to change the
trajectory of a race that has intensified dramatically over two weeks.
Clinton
accused Sanders of misleading Americans on his healthcare. 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.
"Based
on every analysis I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal,
the numbers don’t add up," Clinton told Sanders. "That's a promise that
cannot be kept."
Sanders said he was simply moving to provide what most industrialized countries have - healthcare coverage for all.
"We're
not going to dismantle anything," Sanders said. "In my view healthcare
is a right of all people, not a privilege, and I will fight for that."
Sanders
also repeated his accusation that Clinton is too beholden to the Wall
Street interests she once represented as a U.S. senator from New York,
noting her Super PAC
received $15 million in donations from Wall Street.
"Let's
not insult the intelligence of the American people," he said. "Why in
God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess
just for the fun of
it, they want to throw money around."
Clinton
said the donations did not mean she was in Wall Street's pocket, and
noted that President Barack Obama had taken donations from Wall Street
during his campaigns.
"When it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street," she said.
With
an eye to on the minority vote, both candidates decried the high
incarceration rate of African-Americans and called for broad reforms of
the criminal justice system.
Sanders said the disproportionately high rate of incarceration for
black men was "one of the great tragedies" in the United States.
He
called for "fundamental police reform" that would "make it clear that
any police officer who breaks the law will in fact be dealt with."
Clinton
criticized what she called "systemic racism" in education, housing and
employment. "When we talk about criminal justice reform … we also have
to talk about jobs,
education, housing and other ways of helping communities of color," she
said.
They
both agreed on the need for immigration reform, an important issue to
Hispanic voters, though they clashed over the Obama administration's
actions on handling a wave
of undocumented children who entered the country alone. Clinton
criticized Sanders for voting against a reform measure in 2007, which
Sanders defended because of a provision in the bill for guest workers.
Clinton
entered Thursday's debate under acute pressure to calm growing
nervousness among her supporters after her drubbing in New Hampshire and
a razor-thin win the prior
week in the Iowa caucus. Both states have nearly all-white populations.
For
his part, Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, hoped to
harness the momentum and enthusiasm he gained from the first two
contests and prove he can be
a viable contender to lead the Democratic Party to victory in the Nov. 8
presidential election.
"What
our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of
establishment politics," Sanders said. "They want a political
revolution."
Clinton
dodged an opportunity to distance herself from former Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright's recent controversial comments that there was
"a special place in
hell" for women who don't support other women.
"Look,
I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her,
which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to
empower everyone, women
and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make,"
she said.
On
the foreign policy front, Sanders criticized Clinton for her warm
relationship for Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under
Republican President Richard
Nixon during the Vietnam War. Sanders called Kissinger "one of the most
destructive secretaries of state."
Asked by Clinton about who his foreign policy advisers were, Sanders shot back: "Well it ain't Henry Kissinger."
The
race now moves to what should be more favorable ground for Clinton in
Nevada and South Carolina, states with more black and Hispanic voters,
who, polls show, have
been more supportive of Clinton so far.
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