Clinton, Sanders Faced Off in Debate
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want me to get you water?</s>JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. I want you to get me some gravity. Jeanne Moos, CNN --</s>MOOS: -- New York.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts now.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Berman.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan. The rumble in Milwaukee or something like that. Last time it was who is the more progressive. Now it's who loves President Obama more. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing off in last night's PBS debate.</s>BOLDUAN: In fact, Hillary Clinton seemed to be trying to set up the entire race as an Obama primary. And unlike New Hampshire, she is trying not to lose this one by 22 points.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. (</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is -- Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate.</s>BERMAN: CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is in Denmark, South Carolina, following the Clinton campaign. Good morning, Joe.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. It was quite a debate. Academic in some parts but there were some flashes there. Hillary Clinton speaking boldly to the Democratic base, aligning herself with President Obama, taking on Bernie Sanders for his suggestions that the president had let down the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Sanders responded, in part, that as a member of the United States Senate, it's his obligation, essentially, to articulate when he disagrees with policies that emanate from the White House. I think another important moment was the discussion over Bernie Sanders' signature issue of Wall Street. Mrs. Clinton once again on the attack saying she's not a single-issue candidate. This is not a single-issue country. Bernie Sanders saying that in his view the voters are not fooled by the reasons why Wall Street puts so much money into American politics. There was also that interesting moment where they talked for quite a while about the pros and cons of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger under President Nixon. I think the take away from that, once again, if any, is another dustup over foreign policy and which candidate is more plugged in. So a lot to chew on there. Hillary Clinton coming here to South Carolina later today for an event on education. Bernie Sanders is out in Minnesota talking also about issues of race there along with economics. Back to you.</s>BOLDUAN: Joe Johns, that's right. A lot to chew on. Joe, thank you so much. Let's continue the discussion and bring in "CNN Politics" executive editor, Mark Preston; and CNN political commentator, Van Jones. Van Jones worked in White House for President Obama as an adviser. Guys, great to see you. Van, first to you. It seems that President Obama was the topic, one of the big topics of the day at the debate. It was Obama, Obama, Obama. I love him more. No, I love him more. I'm going to carry on his legacy, no, you won't. What you make of that strategy?</s>VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It was amazing. They mentioned him 21 times. I mean, more than any other topic, I believe, was the Obama, but maybe Wall Street from Senator Sanders. Hillary Clinton is playing this so smart. She knows how beloved Obama is, especially for African-Americans. She's going to South Carolina. Now, she doesn't mention the fact that she actually disagrees with Obama on a number of things. She doesn't agree with his trade policy. She's against TPP. Obama is for it. She has critiques of his health care. She doesn't like the Cadillac Tax. She doesn't like his foreign policy. She wants a no-fly zone. All of that she put away and just hugged Obama like she was Hillary Rodham Obama and drove this wedge between Sanders and the president. She is very, very good when it comes to the smart politics inside of this party. It was on display. But the reality is she has critiques too. She didn't talk about them last night.</s>BERMAN: Mark, not only did she say I'm with Obama, she said clearly that Senator Sanders, in many cases, is not. And she said outright there are times when Bernie Sanders sounds like a Republican in his criticism of Barack Obama, to which Bernie Sanders said that was a low blow. Was it a low blow?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yes, in many ways. To say Bernie Sanders is a Republican is absurd, unless you want to go full circle and come around with his policies --</s>BOLDUAN: So also before the debate, Van, we heard that Hillary Clinton was going to be far more aggressive. The Clinton campaign was going to be far more aggressive toward Sanders. You also heard repeatedly during the debate that she targeted Sanders for, again, not explaining how he's going to follow through on his promises. The way she termed it was we need to level with the American people. Listen here.</s>CLINTON: This is about people's lives. And we should level with the American people. You need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process. I feel like we have to level with people.</s>BOLDUAN: I mean, he has been vague on how he will pay for a lot of the programs that he is promising. Do you think this is going to catch up with him in Nevada, in South Carolina?</s>JONES: It could be, but part of what you're doing here, she knows that one of her negatives when you look at the polling data, is trustworthiness, authenticity. I think Sanders was 91 percent of people, who were voting on trustworthy in the last contest, voted for Sanders. When she's saying level with, level with, she's trying to pull apart this idea that he's this authentic guy and trustworthy. He's not leveling with you. He's selling you soap bubbles and snow flakes. I'm telling you the truth. It's very smart of her to do that. She's negative on trustworthiness. She has to reassert herself as the real truth teller.</s>BERMAN: A lot of what was happening on that state last night was reaching out to minority voters in Nevada and also South Carolina, which is why I want to ask you about something else that happened before the debate. It was during the show that the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee endorsed Hillary Clinton yesterday. A little bit later, Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights icon from Georgia, he had some pretty harsh words about Bernie Sanders, and Bernie Sanders saying he was part of the civil rights movement in the '60s. Listen to Congressman Lewis.</s>REP. JOHN LEWIS, (D), GEORGIA: I never saw him. I never met him. I was chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for three years. I was involved in the Freedom Ride, the march on Washington, the march from Selma to Montgomery, and directed a voter education project for six years. But I met Hillary Clinton. I met President Clinton.</s>BERMAN: Again, that's a civil rights icon and he's been in politics for a long time. And he knows how to be tough.</s>JONES: I tell you what, John Lewis is a legend. He's an icon. He's the last living person who was on the stage with MLK at that march of Washington. I think that was a bit unfair on his part. First of all, as we know, Bernie Sanders was not a part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was part of CORE (ph), a different organization with different tactics in different cities. And number two, it's just this weird thing where even when Obama was running against Hillary Clinton, John Lewis was against Obama and for Hillary Clinton until the very end. So there's some real strong bond that they have, but it's very unfair to take away the arrest that happened with Bernie Sanders. Nobody can take that away from him. He was one of the few white males who was willing to take the fights on early. I think it was unfair for John Lewis to do that to him.</s>BERMAN: All right. Van Jones and Mark Preston, thank you.</s>BOLDUAN: Thanks, guys.</s>BERMAN: Let's turn to the Republicans. You might say it was the only thing missing from this campaign, soft-core porn. No longer. The campaign ad controversy rated NP 17 at least.</s>BOLDUAN: Plus, secret weapon or biggest liability. President George W. Bush joining his brother on the campaign trail next week. But Donald Trump isn't waiting for it. He's already on the attack.