Hillary Clinton Was The ‘Black Guy’ In 2016 Primary Against Bernie Sanders, Says Former Adviser

During a recent episode of The Hill’s Rising, Ryan Grim and Saagar Enjeti spoke to former Hillary Clinton adviser Richard Goodstein about Clinton’s loss in 2016 and the possible factors behind it.

At one point during a YouTube clip of the episode, Grim touched on the alleged dirtiness of Clinton’s 2016 run, pointing to the purported campaign strategy to question Bernie Sanders’ “Americanness” in the primary. In response, Goodstein pointed to the primaries in 2008 that pitted Clinton against Barack Obama. He noted the former Secretary of State won the “swathe of voters” from Pittsburgh through West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Goodstein claimed that such voters are people who “haven’t quite accepted diversity” in the United States.

“So Obama was black, and she wasn’t, and she won those voters. In 2016, Bernie did pretty well, why? Because she was the black guy in a sense.”

Goodstein said that the voters in question were intolerant of her, although he noted Sanders was Jewish.

Enjeti pushed back and said Clinton’s struggle with such voters may have been linked to her purported anti-working class sentiment, noting her claim that coal miners would be put out of work.

Regardless, the YouTube comments of the video were not kind to Goldstein.

“This is why the Democratic Party keeps losing, it’s idiots like this who can’t accept their own mistakes,” one commenter wrote.

“Imagine sending people like this guy onto talk shows and then wondering why you lost the election LOL,” wrote another.

“People like him are the reason Hillary lost. He’s living in an echo chamber,” another chimed in.

Clinton has blamed Sanders as the reason she lost to Donald Trump in 2016. However, Business Insider claimed that the real reason for Clinton’s loss was that she took the Midwestern “blue-wall” states of Michigan and Wisconsin for granted. In addition, Clinton was the second most disliked candidate to Trump in 2016.

Clinton appears to maintain her dislike of Sanders. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Clinton refused to commit to backing Sanders should he win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. After backlash, she said she would do everything in her power to support the eventual Democratic nominee, but she stopped short of committing to backing Sanders over Trump.

As of now, Sanders remains well-liked in polling and is doing well in polls ahead of the Iowa caucuses. His success has ruffled the feathers of Barack Obama and his allies, who allegedly “hate” Sanders, but don’t know how to thwart his chances on securing the Democratic nomination.