Politics

Krauthammer Discredits Hillary’s 2016 Merits: ‘Nostalgia For Clinton Years’ Her Only Message [VIDEO]

Al Weaver Reporter
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In a preview of President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Monday that Obama’s speech is only meant to cement his legacy, rather than help a potential Hillary Clinton campaign.

The conservative commentator disagreed with host Bill O’Reilly, who said the speech is meant to mobilize minority voting blocs for Clinton, whom she’ll need as she plays “the entitlement game.”

Krauthammer told O’Reilly the only thing a future Clinton campaign appeals to is “nostalgia for the Clinton years,” noting the years were largely ones of “peace and prosperity.” The syndicated columnist proceeded to discredit every bit of Clinton’s public work, saying she’s neither “endearing personally” nor a good campaigner, adding that she has “no record” from her time as secretary of state and senator.

KRAUTHAMMER: Obama knows there’s not a chance in hell of this getting passed. It wouldn’t even have gotten passed through the previous Congress where the Senate was run by Democrats. There’s no way it’s going to get passed. He calls it tax reform, that’s a fraud. This is tax and spend. You raise taxes here and spend the money there. It’s the oldest Democratic game.

Obama is doing it for one reason. He’s campaigning in the sense that he’s campaigning for his legacy. And the reason he wants to do this is to lay down sort of a statement of what the Democratic Party stands for after he’s gone. In other words, he wants to be the man who changed, or at least who brought, the party back from the Clintonian, meaning the Bill Clintonian idea of a party that was moderate, that was able to balance the budget, that abolished welfare. That’s the Clinton idea, the moderate, sort of center-left. Obama is not a center-left man. He wants to change America and he wants to change the party. It has nothing to do with reelecting or electing Hillary. He wants the party to be the party of Obama and to define it as a ‘Robin Hood’ party.

O’REILLY: Let me show you where you’re wrong about Hillary. Barack Obama, he doesn’t have any use for the Clintons. I don’t think they even like each other very much. But he knows and so does Hillary Clinton, that in order to get elected president, she’s got to play the entitlement game. Has to. Has to mobilize African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, people who can’t get a job, ill-educated people, they all have to vote for her. The more entitlements that the Republican Party say no to, the party of no, the more mobilization there are in those precincts that want the entitlements, so that’s the setup here.

KRAUTHAMMER: I’m not sure that’s true. If you were Hillary, the only thing she has going for her. She’s not a good campaigner. She’s not endearing personally. She has no record as secretary of state. She left not a trace as senator. The one thing she appeals to is the nostalgia for the Clinton years. She represents the return, at least the subliminal message is you vote for a Clinton, you get — in the ’90s were peace and prosperity. It’s not a hard-left message. I think she would be stepping all over it if she tries to pretend to be an Elizabeth Warren. She can’t carry it off. She tried it with that ridiculous statement that corporations don’t create jobs.