Bill Clinton Tells Millennials They’re What’s Wrong With America, Only Hillary Can Fix It

Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd of 1,000 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this past Thursday. He explained why millennials are responsible for what’s now going on in the United States–because they didn’t vote in 2010.

Clinton was campaigning for wife Hillary, whose campaign is frustrated that the youth flock to Bernie Sanders, an older democratic socialist. In his trademark “I feel your pain” tradition, the prospective First Gentleman explained the feelings of the younger generation, per a Huffington Post report.

“A lot of young people feel like they’ve played by the rules, went to school, they’re gonna graduate with debt they can’t repay, or they’ve already graduated with debt they can’t repay, and they may not ever get to do what they really wanted to do with their lives.”

The former president gave President Barack Obama credit for bringing the country back from the brink of disaster but explained that many haven’t had a raise since 2008, noted Gawker.

“The reason that there’s so much anxiety, intensity, anger, blame in this election is that 80 percent of the American people have not gotten a pay raise since the crash eight years ago, after inflation.”

Bill Clinton to millennials: You are what’s wrong with this country, please vote for Hillary https://t.co/qOKQQpfDGbpic.twitter.com/6Yyx0wqqEE

— Gawker (@Gawker) April 22, 2016

It sounds as though Bill Clinton was tapping into the issues that cause some young people to be intimately involved in the 2016 elections, but he then expounded on why things are as dismal as they are, the Huffington Post added.

“If all the young people who claim to be disillusioned now had voted in 2010, we wouldn’t have lost the Congress, and we’d probably have our incomes back.”

Millennials are not the only Democrats who don’t vote in mass during off-election years. Also, criticizing the younger voting bloc seems like an odd strategy for pulling Bernie Sanders voters over to the Clinton side.

Currently, Hillary Clinton is ahead with 1,428 pledged delegates to Sanders 1,153 as of Friday. Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware are all having primaries Tuesday. Sanders will hold a rally in Wilmington, Delaware Saturday, but Clinton has no plans to visit the state. Delaware’s 21 delegates will be parceled out based on Tuesday’s election results.

Ted Devine, a Sanders adviser, recalls that during the 2008 presidential race, super delegates who had previously committed to Hillary Clinton changed their minds and defected to Barack Obama. Clinton lost a lot of lead to Sanders although she started off strong. Devine said, likely, this will factor into the decision of the superdelegates, according to USA Today.

It seems that Bill Clinton doesn’t know how to relate to potential supporters. Earlier this month, he engaged in an angry exchange with Black Lives Matter protesters. In an attempt to explain away legislation that he introduced, which resulted in the mass incarceration of thousands of people of color, he forgot to mention his wife, the presidential hopeful.

@JayyH His own description of crime in the 90s, “the savagery,” doesn’t sound much better https://t.co/AKpYOyXkmk

— Holly Epstein Ojalvo (@heoj) April 15, 2016

What the soon-to-be septuagenarian former president doesn’t realize is that what worked when he was a presidential candidate in the early 90s is no longer effective. There is no place to run or hide because voters, especially the under 30 crowd, access news 24/7. Also, Clinton’s policies, along with Hillary’s, are heavily scrutinized, and many of their words have come back to haunt them.

While Hillary and Bill Clinton both seem to believe the race is over, and a win is in sight, neither is certain of this. Despite a defeat in New York, which wasn’t unexpected, Sanders supporters are forging ahead. They are reminiscent of the grassroots movement that placed its efforts behind Barack Obama.

Bill Clinton would do well to remember history and that there is no entitlement to the presidency of the United States. With this is mind, he should stop blaming millennials for situations they didn’t create, and perhaps, stop campaigning.

[Photo by Jose/AP]