President Obama sat down for an interview with Politico’s Glenn Thrush, who, as you may imagine, had a few questions about his view of the current Democratic presidential primary. If you were hoping for something that looked like a full-on endorsement of either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, sorry—Obama was careful to talk about the strengths of each candidate, the specific challenges they face, and their appeal to Democratic voters, while insisting on their fundamental similarities:
I think that what is — you know, if you look at both of them, I think they're both passionate about giving everybody a shot. I think they're both passionate about kids having a great education. I think they want to make sure everybody has health care. I think that they both believe in a tax system that is fair and not tilted towards, you know, the folks at the very top.
Word for word, Obama had more to say about Clinton, pointing out that he knows her both as a competitor and as a member of his administration, so his praise—or defenses—were somewhat slanted toward her despite his care to balance his comments. And It does seem Obama thinks Sanders is due for some increased media scrutiny:
I think that if Bernie won Iowa or won New Hampshire, then you guys are going to do your jobs and, you know, you're going to dig into his proposals and how much they cost and what does it mean, and, you know, how does his tax policy work and he's subjected, then, to a rigor that hasn't happened yet, but that Hillary is very well familiar with.
One thing Obama was totally clear on: The serious contrast to draw in this race is between either Democrat and the Republicans—and the contrast has grown sharply since 2008.
When I ran against John McCain, John McCain and I had real differences, sharp differences, but John McCain didn't deny climate science. John McCain didn't call for banning Muslims from the United States. You know, John McCain was a conservative, but he was well within, you know, the mainstream of not just the Republican Party but within our political dialogue. And that’s where, ultimately, any voter is going to have to pay attention is the degree to which the Republican rhetoric and Republican vision has moved not just to the right but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable.
Very much that.
