In unusually candid remarks, President Obama privately told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was nearing the point at which his campaign against Hillary Clinton would end, and that the party must soon come together to back her.
Mr. Obama acknowledged that Mrs. Clinton was perceived to have weaknesses as a candidate, and that some Democrats did not view her as authentic.
But he played down the importance of authenticity, noting that President George W. Bush — whose record he ran aggressively against in 2008 — was once praised for his authenticity.
Mr. Obama made the remarks after reporters had left a fund-raising event in Austin, Tex., for the Democratic National Committee. The comments were described by three people in the room for the event, all of whom were granted anonymity to describe a candid moment with the president. The comments were later confirmed by a White House official.
President Obama is nothing if not a pragmatist, and he clearly sees that the writing is on the wall here.
Reports are that the President and his top aides have been strategizing as to how to help the Democratic candidate win this next election, which I think is what most of us hope he will do.
I also kind of doubt that this information was leaked accidentally, and feel that Obama is sending a subtle message that it is time to start getting serious about the 2016 election.
This is incorrect Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteEven the TV news stations corrected themselves.
The Prez apparently just said he hopes whomever isn't the candidate needs to back the other.
Yes I know that White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest did the whole denial thing, but that is to be expected.
DeleteHowever I think the story was likely accurate.
This is the same thing that happened in January when Obama insiders and former WH staff whispered to the media that Pres Obama really supported Clinton he just hadn't publicly endorsed her yet. Subsequently, Earnest made a statement that Pres Obama hadn't endorse anyone privately and didn't plan to publicly endorse during the primary. Yet people still insisted the endorsement stories were accurate.
DeleteThen Pres Obama personally stated he didn't endorse anyone and whomever was whispering otherwise to the media don't speak for him. He invited Sanders to meet with him at the White House to try to re-level the playing field.
Now probably the same people are again telling the media what they're sure Pres Obama thinks and means and really wants to say. Again Earnest has corrected the whispers and again people are dismissing Earnest. So I predict Obama is going to again have to personally say he hasn't endorsed anybody yet. It would be interesting if he met with Sanders again.
Anonymous6:23 AM
DeleteThis is incorrect Gryphen.
Even the TV news stations corrected themselves.
****
I'm sorry but I believe the potus over the lamestream media!
I love this guy.At the White House correspondents' dinner when he was yukking it up at Trump's expense and Big Orange sat there and marinated, too much. Obama's smiling and doing his stand up routine knowing that he just gave the go ahead on Bin Laden's shave and a haircut. The right wing wouldn't know an authentic bad ass if they fell over one, hence their embrace of the most ridiculous, vain glorious, silly fat fuck they could find. A clown, an empty souled frat boy cocksucker that left to his own devices would be a fuckin cabana boy at a resort for vampires.
ReplyDeleteThat and Seth Myers' take down of tRump. If there's one thing he can't tolerate, it's being made fun of. Idol worship only, please!
DeleteAs usual, I agree with the President (if he indeed said this, which John Nichols rather doubted on Lawrence's show last night). Bernie is over. He's not going to take New York or California. The longer he's perceived as the loser, only the purist "protest voters," not the realists, will vote for him. His insensitive remarks about Garland last night on Rachel Maddow's show angered many, who discussed it for hours on social media afterwards. He's not helping himself with Tad Devine's announced plan of going after HRC's delegates (pledged or super), either.
DeleteBernie walks out of TV interview today after talking about the Jane Sanders & Sheriff Joe debacle, right as he's being asked about the possibility of the VP slot: https://twitter.com/robbiesherwood/status/710841659202732032
DeleteWow, I just read that about Jane Sanders. This is the first time most of us have had any knowledge of her and she fucked up in a big way. The only other thing I knew about Jane Sanders was how she screwed over Burlington College.
Deletehttp://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/3/14/jane-sanders-joe-arpaio-tent-city
DeleteImagine Bill Clinton or the spouses of anyone else running for office doing the same thing. How difficult is it to google this stuff in advance? She became a tool for Arpio and didn't serve Bernie's campaign too well.
DeleteGo getum President Obama and Hillary Clinton! Can hardly wait for the day she is sworn in as POTUS!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, back in the real world of important news: Isn't today, 18 March, the day when Dakota Meyer is supposed to be in Alaska to visit Sailor?
ReplyDeleteChinny's motion for reconsideration of the interim visitation and custody order is still pending. I'd guess she could make a good argument for refusing to let him visit the baby until the judge rules on her motion even if a visit for today was in the order. But the judge might have ruled already and it's not on the docket yet. We'll probably hear all about it from the Daily Mail.
DeleteWho knows, we haven't seen what the reconsideration Bristol filed with the court is about... so maybe not
DeleteHe should go anyway and make a big stink about it.
DeleteAgain, are you sure you are a man?
DeleteWhy would you ask such a question, 9:54. It shows your own insecurities and prejudices about gender.
DeleteSailor decided to go visit grandpa in the hosptial instead. You know, the ICU that has kegerators and gun racks.
DeleteI am for Bernie. He will be here this weekend in Seattle. Billary is backed by Goldman Sachs. Blackstone/Goldman are already aligning their staff for the Fed. Reserve under Billary. Another Wall Street bailout on the way!
ReplyDeleteHe has lost. At this point, you are being conned. Enjoy!
DeleteGood for you, 7:56. This is American and you can believe whatever you want to believe and vote however you wish to vote.
DeleteSure, you can believe in unicorns, too!
DeleteI have always been serious about the Presidential race and I support Bernie Sanders and will vote for him over the disgusting lying corporate logo on her butt Hillary.
ReplyDeleteIf Hillary gets the nomination, I will support the Democratic candidate but until, I support Bernie.
Bernie is that you you old fart
DeleteThanks for your support in November.
DeleteGreat. I'm glad you can see past your irrational bias against Hillary Clinton and vote for what's best for the country.
DeleteIt is commendable that you can support one candidate very strongly but also see the long term consequences of letting the republicans win.
DeleteMany Hillary supporters had to get over her loss in '08 and support and vote for Obama. It wasn't easy but it was far better for the country than McCain and Palin any day.
DeleteThe same goes for Hillary and Bernie, who voted alike 93% of the time in Congress. Bernie has said repeatedly that Hillary is 100X better than any Republican but I'd say when it comes to Cruz and Trump, any Democrat is a million times better than either of them. We know what would have happened to some degree if McCain and Palin had been elected, I can't bear to think of what it would be like if Trump or Cruz was elected. We'd all regret it, likely even those who voted for them, or at least in due time as they saw the country fall apart.
Thanks for voting BLUE in November, it's what we have to do to keep our country moving forward and not taking us back to days when many had no rights at all.
I know you support Hillary and that is your prerogative. However, I am not sure that Obama actually said that as his spokespeople are walking it back a bit. We need Bernie to stay in the race as long as possible. Hillary is not progressive, she is hawkish, for trade deals and (in spite of being a woman) is very establishment. Bernie will help hold her feet to the fire and he can help mold the Democratic platform if he stays in the race. In addition to the racists bigotry that Trump spouts, he pounds the unfair (to American workers) trade deals in every speech. Our side needs to do the same. There are so many workers pushed out of jobs because of these deals. They no longer either have a place at the table or a slice of the American dream. The Democratic Party will only include anti-trade deal language in the platform if Bernie comes to the convention with power and deletes. We may think the Trump is a buffoon, but people who support him do not. He is correct on trade being a huge issue (although I don't think he can made the best deals on trade). We will lose all those voters if it isn't part of our platform.
ReplyDeleteBernie is tired. It shows. Whatever "left" political capital he had is now spent. How many new Democrats is he registering at his rallies? That's what the Democrats need him to do at this point, and that's about it.
DeleteWould anyone be surprises that Obama would support Hillary Clinton and urge others to do the same?
DeleteClinton has raised a ton of money for Democrats this elections cycle and, really, all elections cycles since she's been in politics. Bernie hasn't raised anything and has always drawn a line in the sand between himself and Democrats.
It's no secret that Bernie Sanders doesn't think much of Obama or his Presidency. Sanders may have a lot of great ideas, but he has very little diplomacy. You don't call into question the leadership ability of a popular president who everyone knows has been stonewalled by the other side from day one. Bernie may be a smart man, but that was a dumb thing to do.
If Bernie legitimately had a chance and became the nominee, Obama would endorse him. Until then, Obama will stick with Clinton, who has a clear path to victory, and loyalty to the party and the President.
Hillary's more tired than Bernie and it shows more. I think part of the reason she and her campaign are trying to give Bernie the bum's rush out of the primary is to give Hillary a chance to rest. She's not the same Hillary she was 8 years ago in many ways. Particularly her health and stamina don't seem to be up to what they were in 2008 and even while she was Sec of State. I think the fall and head injury damaged her overall health and cognition more than has been revealed. I think we've seen it recently with her gaffes about history, the total lapse of judgement to allow herself to be video'd barking like a dog, and her lethargy at the last debate where at some points she leaned on the lectern and looked like she was going to fall asleep on her feet. I think Bernie's health and stamina are probably better than hers. It's a significant reason why I don't think she should be president because I don't think she's healthy enough and I believe she's either going into dementia or sustained brain damage when she fell.
Delete@9:25 - You obviously didn't watch him walk out of an interview today in AZ. Sad!
Delete"Would anyone be surprises that Obama would support Hillary Clinton and urge others to do the same?"
DeleteYes, I would be surprised. Obama can't stand her! He can't stand Bill. He remembers what they said about him in 2007-2008. They've been rarely around Obama since she left his cabinet.
Obama brought her into his cabinet for the same reasons Lincoln brought Seward, Chase and Bates into his: to marshall their talents for his and the country's benefit and to keep them in a position where they'd have a difficult time rat-fucking him: A keeping your enemies close strategy.
I just marvel how Clinton supporters claim with straight faces or actually believe Obama loves him some Hillary and can't wait to endorse her. Your memory of history is as bad as Hillary's.
Here we go again with your armchair diagnosis of her injury. Congratulations on mastering the right-wing talking point.
DeleteHillary's fine. No matter how much you wish it were otherwise, she's fine.
Much sharper and smarter than you, obviously.
I would say that a 67 year old woman who tries to claim Nancy Reagan can be credited with "starting a national conversation" about AIDS in the 1980s along with several other recent claims that were easily shown to be false and had to be walked back, is getting dementia or has brain damage. Screw your right-winger smear.
Delete9:56 - Bern, baby, bern. Disco inferno. You are in the stages of grief. The President CALLS HER A GOOD FRIEND. She served in his Cabinet. The President, unlike Bernie, is a DEMOCRAT. OF COURSE, he supports the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Wake up. Your RW points have no value here.
DeleteOops, the comments at 10:35 are for 9:55, not 9:56. Sorry!
Delete10:20 - go vote for Drumpf, then, as Bernie has already lost the Democratic nomination. Read about the unlikely miraculous occurrences that would have to happen for him to suddenly win: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/upshot/heres-how-bernie-sanders-could-win-the-nomination.html
DeleteDoes it really matter if he really likes Hillary or Bill? Grow up. This isn't a popularity contest, it's politics.
DeleteHillary suspended her campaign in 2008 and threw all of her support behind Obama when it was clear he was going to win the nomination. Since then, she has been supportive of him. Bernie has been nothing but critical (or begrudgingly neutral).
America needs a Democratic presidential who can stay awake and does not need his warm milk and cookies at 8pm.
ReplyDeleteAre you drunk?
Delete8:28 - no, 8:23 is not drunk. 8:23 can see what most of us can see: Bernie is old and has lost.
DeleteThe White House is denying this, But it does fit the desperate attempts by the Hillary campaign to declare the campaign over and victorious , But let me remind you of your history, March 2008 Hillary was leading Barack Obama in the delegate count 3 to 1 and was urging the Senator to drop out for the sake of party unity, Obama declared then as now that "there are still a lot of states left" By June of 2008 Hillary shut her campaign down and the rest is history.
ReplyDeleteFEEL THE BERN 2016
I suggest you read Nate Silver's analysis at 538 of how Clinton is following Obama's path and the large number of statistically improbable events that would have to occur for Sanders to obtain the nomination at this point.http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/clinton-is-following-obamas-path-to-the-nomination/
DeleteThe Bern is getting cold and moldy. The Revolution never happened. Sad!
DeleteBernie Sanders is no Barak Obama.
DeletePart of the perceived "problem" is that Bernie is an Independent who caucuses with the Democratic party. It burns some people that he is running on the Democratic ticket because third parties (or Independents) don't go anywhere in the current political system.
DeleteI appreciate that Sanders pulled Clinton left, especially on TPP which, I believe, if passed will kill the economy but the constant Wall Street harangue is getting old.
Unfortunately, since Citizen's United, a candidate can not win without money from PACs or any other big donors. Small, grassroots donors is wonderful but only those kinds of donations will not bring victory.
RazLemons @8:46 a.m. I don't know where you get your info but at this time in March, Obama was ahead of Hillary by 140 or so pledged delegates. She never caught up to him after that. At the end of March, it was Obama-1443 and Clinton-1293. I got all this info from the NYT website. There was no great comeback for Clinton and there won't be for Bernie. He's 300 points behind her, not counting superdelegates. There's no making up that amount of delegates when she's still leading in several big states coming up according to recent polls. He'd have to win every remaining state with a 65 to 35 win. Is it possible? Yes. But the bigger question, is it probable? NO!
DeleteAs far as history goes, you're the one who needed the lessons.
Sanders applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War;
ReplyDeleteBernie Sanders applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War, his campaign confirmed to ABC News.
"As a college student in the 1960s he was a pacifist," Michael Briggs, campaign spokesman added in an email. "[He] isn't now."
As a soldier who was called to serve, I can't vote for Bernie Sanders a man who applied as a conscientious observer to avoid going to war.
You're free to vote for whomever you want but this is a specious argument for not voting for Sanders. There's nothing dishonorable about being a concientious objector. Conscientious objector isn't the same as those rich kids who avoided Vietnam with education deferrals and bogus service in state national guards. Besides there's no requirement for a candidate to have military service or combat experience. If you want to make that your own prerequisite at least get your facts straight about conscientious objector status.
Delete10:01 - yeah, sure. You can have a million excuses for Bernie. Including his published pro-rape fantasy in 1972. Including his attending communist gatherings in the 80's in other countries. Including voting to protect gun manufacturers. Including his wife meeting with Sheriff Arpaio this week. Including...
DeleteWay to move those goalposts 10:33!
DeleteKeep making excuses for him, @11:46. He's all yours.
DeleteI'm a Clinton supporter and I don't like some of what Sanders has said or done, but I would never criticize him for applying for conscientious objector status.
DeleteAlthough, it's interesting they included the statement of him not being a pacifist any more.
I'm Feelin' the BERN!
ReplyDelete"Through her pre-campaign support for the TPP and her husband’s passage of NAFTA, Mrs. Clinton is a dedicated imperialist. From her willingness to destroy entire nations on a whim, Mrs. Clinton is a dedicated militarist. From her campaign funds and personal fortune Mrs. Clinton is a very good friend of Wall Street. From her carceral policies Mrs. Clinton is a racial opportunist who used the lives of millions of Black and Brown people as so much detritus—as a political stepping stone, to benefit her own ‘career.’ A quick guess is that around half of Mrs. Clinton’s victims have been women." http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/18/the-devil-and-hillary-clinton/
That devolved into a steaming pile of crap.
DeleteHillary was able to destroy entire nations on a whim? Wow! I bet she didn't even know she had that type of power/snark
DeleteGot your talking points straight from the RNC, didn't you? You can always count on them when you need to try to manipulate others with lies and smears. They'll be very proud of you.
If Bernie becomes president, is it okay that when Bernie farts dust comes out at the bottom of his pant legs?
ReplyDeleteOf course it is okay.
DeleteLikewise, if Hillary becomes president it will be okay when she *queefs* everyone runs screaming out of the oval office yelling at the top of their lungs "HABOOB! Run for your lives!"
Gross.
DeleteBernie don't pick a Sarah Palin type to be your VP. Every morning she would wait for a phone call in your first month as president to hear you died while eating your oatmeal.
ReplyDeleteBernie's VP - Fidel's brother
DeleteSen. Warren for VP! END the Wall St. cronyism. END the ENDLESS WARS. Reel in the Military Industrial Complex.
DeleteBernie Bro at 10:16 - we need Warren in the Senate (That's where she says she wants to stay). That's where Bernie needs to stay, too, by the way.
DeleteWarren has already pissed off a bunch of Bernie sanders by not endorsing him. Maybe she's not that into him.
DeleteMain stream media is now reporting the Obama administration has NOT said this.
ReplyDeleteSounds like someone in Clinton camp is trying to float a false statement.Typical campaign dirty tricks.
@1:16. Your Clinton smears are so stale and ineffective. She's won. Get over it.
DeleteShe didn't win. Wall Street wins. We all lose. Whatev's.
DeleteShe didn't win. Wall Street wins. We all lose. Whatev's.
DeleteAnd the smear is? that word you use I don't think it means what you think it means.
ReplyDeleteBern est finis.
DeleteBernie's goal is not to win: http://www.dailynewsbin.com/opinion/bernie-sanders-resource-allocation-suggests-hes-no-long-even-trying-to-win-the-nomination/24173/
DeleteI will not be voting for Hillary Clinton. I was relatively enthused about at the start of the campaign. But as it has played out, I've been repeatedly turned off by her. Bottom line, I don't trust a single word out of her mouth. So I will be sitting this one out.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand people like you who refuse to exercise their right to vote. If you dislike Clinton so much, vote for someone else. People fought hard for voting rights for women and African Americans, and here you are, giving it up because you're "turned off" by a candidate.
DeleteI wonder how enthused you'll be having someone like Trump or Cruz as President. You'll be dreaming of someone like Hillary to come along if that were to happen. Nobody has said she's perfect, but then neither is Bernie. But she beats the Republicans any day of the week.
DeleteAnd I want to tell President Obama GO FCUK YOURSELF‼️
ReplyDelete