I watched Bill Clinton's appearance on Colbert's Late Show last night.
Stephen Colbert: Could you explain three things to me very quickly, alright? And quick is a tough word sometimes, alright? The first one is why do you think Bernie Sanders is doing so well?
Bill Clinton: Because there are a lot of people all over the world that are really hacked off that they think the system is rigged against them, and they think the rich get all the gains. And in America a lot of them believe the Republicans have been rewarded for - they reward the people furthest to the Right so the Democrats would be even more effective if they moved further to the Left.
Yes Bernie IS further to the left than Hillary in a lot of important ways. Many of them address things that are long overdue for a change in this country, which lags behind other advanced industrial countries in protections for its citizens and on measures of societal well being. Things you didn't advance very much Bill.
But Bill's brief explanation missed one very important aspect of why Bernie is doing so well, and it contrasts markedly from his wife Hillary. Bernie means what he says and tells us the unvarnished truth. Bernie also gets his campaign funds from a far different demographic of donors than Hillary does. Bernie's top donor is the Machinists/Aerospace Workers union ($105,000), and I'm very proud to say I'm a retired member (with a pension!).
Hillary's top donor is Citicorp Inc. ($782,327). Most of Hillary's money came in the form of maximum donations (82%)of $2,700 or more, most of Bernie's money came from small individual contributions (69%) of under $500.
Like everything else when Bernie talks about a Political Revolution he means it. It's not some focus group tested empty platitude. Bernie means it, and its highly contagious (especially in person). I can see why Bill might want to omit that important aspect of the Bernie Sanders Phenomena.
Update: CBS News is featuring a video clip of Bill Clinton's answer to this question (among others) in its news report on Clinton's appearance on the Late Show.