Nearly four years have passed since Hillary Clinton lost the presidency in an upset to Donald Trump, but in a new interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” it was clearer than ever that this is a woman who holds a mighty grudge. On the program to promote her new Hulu documentary, which promises to be a fawning account of her career in politics, Clinton made it plain that she would not be rushing to support Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
Host Linsey Davis asked Clinton if she stood by comments that she made in the documentary about the Vermont socialist – namely that he was the kind of senator that “nobody liked,” and that he’d gotten “nothing done” during his many years in the legislature.
“That was my authentic opinion then; it’s my authentic opinion now,” Clinton confirmed. “He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”
The former secretary of State also remarked upon Sanders’ evolving position about who should win the nomination at the Democratic Convention. While Sanders was eager to find a way to rip the nomination away from Clinton at the convention last time around, he says this time that whoever rolls into the summer with the most pledged delegates should win the nomination – even if no one reaches the magic threshold for the clinch.
“My reaction is, let’s follow the rules,” said Clinton. “We’ve got rules. We had rules last time and we have rules this time. I think it’s always a good idea to follow the rules. Everybody knew what they were when you got into it.”
Clinton also hinted to what has been a major concern among establishment Democrats – that a Sanders nomination could have colossal repercussions down the ballot for moderates running in swing districts.
“Change is hard,” she said. “It’s not glamorous, it doesn’t fit into a soundbite. And yet the people who were elected in 2018 are out there doing the people’s work. I think we ought to be more understanding and realistic on what it takes to get change in this big, complicated, pluralistic democracy of ours.”
Coming as it did on Tuesday morning, Clinton’s interview happened before the shocking results of the Super Tuesday races where Joe Biden rose from the grave to emerge as the favorite to win the nomination. Biden’s fortunes have done a 180 since Saturday’s contest in South Carolina; presumed to be on his last legs after three straight blowout losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, Biden’s campaign finally picked up steam this week, turning this into a true-blue, two-person race for the nomination.
Clinton said that electability should be the main thing on the minds of voters everywhere.
“Today is obviously a big day,” she said. “I’m just watching and hoping that we nominate whoever is the strongest candidate to take out the current incumbent. That’s the only thing that really matters at the end of the day.”
Not sure that either Biden or Bernie qualify as “strong candidates,” but we’ll see what happens.
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