Bernie Sanders is mad as hell -- and he's hoping Democratic voters are, too.
The
Vermont senator denounced a "corrupt" political system and cast himself
as a break from it, while Hillary Clinton tied herself tightly with
President Barack Obama and argued she'd build on his legacy, as the
Democratic presidential contenders clashed Sunday night in Charleston.
Here are six takeaways from the final Democratic debate before the first votes are cast in Iowa and New Hampshire:
Sanders = Trump
It's
not often you hear Sanders say the words "my good friend Donald Trump"
-- but the two have something in common: Their tones match a moment of
anger within the electorate.
Clinton
promised continuity. She highlighted her record. She touted her ability
to get results within the limitations of the modern political climate.
Sanders offered none of that. Like Trump, his cause is change, not compromise.
His
take on why his Medicare-for-all proposal can't pass in Congress could
have been applied to just about any of his arguments: "It's because we
have a campaign finance system that is corrupt. We have super PACs. We
have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars
into campaign contributions and lobbying and the private insurance
companies as well."
Sanders'
fire-and-brimstone touches on some of the same topics as the Republican
front-runner -- particularly super PACs and the influence of money.
Just
like Trump, Sanders even riffed on polling when asked about his
strategy to win over African-American voters, arguing that they'll like
him more once he wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.
"Let
me talk about polling. ... In terms of polling, guess what, we are
running ahead of Secretary Clinton in terms of taking on my good friend
Donald Trump," Sanders said. "We have the momentum. We're on a path to a
victory."
Clinton = Obama
It
was her go-to move, and she went to it a lot: On gun control, health
care, financial regulation, her "many hours in the Situation Room
advising President Obama" and more, Clinton cast herself as the defender
of Obama's legacy and Sanders as someone who'd toss out his
accomplishments.
There are three
reasons for the strategy: Obama remains popular with Democrats. She has a
strong claim to the President's legacy having served in his Cabinet as
his top foreign policy officer. And minority voters favor Obama and
Clinton over Sanders.
Clinton
is eyeing South Carolina as a firewall -- a place she can regain her
footing even if Sanders wins Iowa and New Hampshire, two states that are
whiter and more liberal than the Democratic electorate overall.
Her attacks on Sanders were all designed to drive a wedge between him and Obama.
She
accused Sanders of calling Obama "weak" and "ineffective" when it came
to perhaps Clinton's most vulnerable subject, Wall Street reform, and
said he'd tried to recruit a primary challenger against Obama in 2011.
That year, Sanders had said many Democrats are "deeply disappointed" in
Obama's shifts rightward, and a primary opponent could "begin
contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is
doing."
"I am going to defend
President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the finance
industry and getting results," Clinton said.
Purity vs. pragmatism on health care
Sanders'
shoot-for-the-moon liberalism and Clinton's embrace of Obama were
clearest in their biggest fight of the evening: health care.
Just
two hours before the debate, Sanders had rolled out a tax plan that
would fund his Medicare-for-all proposal to scrap private health
insurance entirely and replace it with a government-run program.
Sanders offered himself as the true champion of the left's biggest policy dreams.
"What
a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country
health care for every man, woman and child as a right," he said. "The
truth is that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman ... they believed
that health care should be available to all of our people."
Clinton,
meanwhile, noted that Democrats had fought for a "public option" in
Congress before Obamacare was passed -- but, to liberals'
disappointment, hadn't succeeded.
And then she turned to Obama's legacy.
"We
have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest
accomplishments of President Obama, the Democratic Party and our
country," Clinton said. "To tear it up and start over again, pushing our
country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the
wrong direction."
Clinton's foreign policy advantage
When
the debate shifted to foreign policy in its second hour, Clinton
displayed a command that was in sharp contrast to Sanders' quiet.
She
gamely handled a question about the moment she handed Russian officials
a "reset" button as secretary of state and defended what she got for
that symbolic button: a new START Treaty, as well as cooperation on
sanctions for Iran.
Sanders,
on the other hand, has tried to turn back questions about his foreign
policy knowledge by pivoting to judgment. But as the primaries draw
near, voters often spend time thinking about the commander-in-chief test
-- and Sanders has a long way to go in convincing voters of his
readiness to handle foreign affairs.
Nobody's hitting the Republicans
In
every Republican debate, all the GOP candidates join together to bash
Obama, Clinton and "Obama-Clinton" every chance they can get. And in the
earlier Democratic debates, all Clinton and Sanders could talk about
was how awful the Republican presidential field -- particularly Trump --
is.
Sunday night, there were very few cross-party attacks.
It's
a reflection of a tightening race: Clinton spent her first months of
the 2016 campaign refusing to even utter Sanders' name. Now, he's a real
threat and her strategy was aimed at him, not the GOP.
Health
care and gun control, in particular, have emerged as key splits in the
Democratic race where Clinton believes she can win liberal voters from
Sanders.
The debate was just a block
away from the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, the site of last year's
racially-motivated shooting of nine churchgoers. Clinton used that
proximity to criticize Sanders, painting him as cozy with the National
Rifle Association.
"He has voted with
the NRA, with the gun lobby, numerous times. He voted against the Brady
Bill five times. He voted for what we call the Charleston loophole. He
voted for immunity for gun makers and sellers," she said.
"He
voted to let guns go onto Amtrak, guns go onto national parks. He voted
against doing research to figure out how we can save lives."
Sanders didn't interject as the debate shifted topics -- a signal he was ready to move on.
Sanders willing to throw punches
No, he wouldn't swipe at Clinton's husband, saying he wants to focus "on the issues, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior."
But
Sanders did show a new willingness to attack Clinton on personal
matters. Twice, he hit her for delivering paid speeches to Goldman Sachs
-- a move intended to undermine Clinton's credibility on Wall Street
reform and call into question her commitment to reforming the political
system more broadly.
"I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs," he said.
Minutes
later, he swung again. "You've received over $600,000 in speaking fees
from Goldman Sachs in one year," he said, later turning his focus to
criminal justice and noting that "not one of their executives is
prosecuted" for actions during the 2008 economic crisis.
The
man who often crowed that he'd never run a negative attack ad in his
life appears to sense that, with a lead in his sights in Iowa and New
Hampshire, it's time to strike.
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