It looks like Obama is favoring Hillary over Bernie and that isn't surprising at all.

[Cali_Democrat]

I don't think he actually undercut Bernie in his interview with Politico, but I do think he wants Hillary to ultimately prevail over Bernie Sanders.

A few reasons IMO:

1) Obama knows Bernie would get beat down like a rented mule in the general election. At the end of the day, we cannot afford to have the GOP win the Presidency. Up to this point, Bernie has been handled with kid gloves by the media and the GOP. Once he starts to get scrutinized, he will completely fall apart.

2) Obama has been President for 7 years and he knows what it takes. Bernie doesn't have the temperament to be President. He's just too angry all the time. His campaign is a far cry from Obama's campaign in 2008. Obama's campaign was uplifting and positive. Bernie, on the other hand, is running on a message of anger and frustration. For Bernie, it's all about doom and gloom.

3) Bernie called for Obama to face primary opposition in 2012. That would have only helped the GOP and Mitt Romney. This probably didn't sit too well with Obama considering what was at stake.

Add this up and it's no surprise Obama wants Hillary to beat Bernie Sanders.

Obama is a very popular President among Dems. He's had extremely high approval ratings among Dems throughout his Presidency. He's also very popular with African Americans.

What Obama says carries a lot of weight.

[hrmjustin]

1. The president knows who is up to the job.

[Fumesucker]

2. Good...

They haven't figured out yet that the attacks only strengthen Sanders and make him look better.

[daleanime]

3. Not surprising, Obama is also pushing.....

the TPP. Why would he want some one who's again the deal he seems to be working the hardest for?

[cascadiance]

5. Yep, corporatists love Republicans and corporate Dems like Obama and Hillary!

Bernie is the only big threat to their having BOUGHT our government to screw us to STEAL and REDISTRIBUTE our wealth for themselves!

[tk2kewl]

23. And don't forget Simpson-Bowles

[daleanime]

24. No chance of that.....

[DanTex]

4. I wonder if Obama would go so far as to endorse her.

If it really looks like Bernie might win, I don't think it's totally out of the question. Obama doesn't want to see the GOP win next November any more than you or I do. It would be contrary to tradition for the president to take a side in a primary (at least I think so, is there precedent for this?), but a Bernie nomination obviously puts his legacy at risk, as president Trump/Cruz would undo all his accomplishments, so if it starts going that way, who knows?

[roguevalley]

6. what a load. Obama knows that Bernie will attempt to change his policies and votes like dumping the

TPP and getting single payer. He doesn't want his legacy undone by Bernie taking it to the best conclusion. Bernie is beating trump by double digits. These talking points are laughable.

[MeNMyVolt]

7. Wow. Those are also my 3 main points against SBS. K&R

That and I don't trust him on social justice issues.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. So you go with Clinton, defender of DOMA because you don't trust the only candidate who has never

once opposed the rights of others, never once berated LGBT families in his verbiage, one of the few with the courage and decency to vote against Bill Clinton's DOMA?
Hard to see the logic in that. Hillary was basically the last name Democrat to stop opposing my rights. Held on white knuckle style to her biases. Won't vote ever again for any primary candidate who has opposed my rights as Hillary has. Never going to happen again. Obama was the last.

[tecelote]

8. Odd because she attacked Obama in a very similar way as Bernie in 2008 - watch the video

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1061359

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Res ipsa loquitur

“She had to do everything that I had to do, except, like Ginger Rogers, backwards in heels,” he said. “She had to wake up earlier than I did because she had to get her hair done. She had to, you know, handle all the expectations that were placed on her.”
“Had things gone a little bit different in some states or if the sequence of primaries and caucuses been a little different,” Obama added, “she could have easily won.”


“The truth is, in 2007 and 2008, sometimes my supporters and my staff, I think, got too huffy about what were legitimate questions she was raising,” he admitted. “And there were times where I think the media probably was a little unfair to her and tilted a little my way in calling her out.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/obama-iowa-2016-sanders-off-message-218166#ixzz3yHnh9ctO

Barack Obama is a prince.

[azurnoir]

13. lol quid pro quo is far more fitting here if indeed Obama backs Hillary

which he has not as of yet

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. He certainly spoke glowingly of her:

But in a candid 40-minute interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast as the first flakes of the blizzard fell outside the Oval Office, he couldn’t hide his obvious affection for Clinton or his implicit feeling that she, not Sanders, best understands the unpalatably pragmatic demands of a presidency he likens to the world’s most challenging walk-and-chew-gum exercise.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/obama-iowa-2016-sanders-off-message-218166#ixzz3yHq3yGi1

[azurnoir]

19. the descriptive is the opinion of author and yet more quid pro quo

which has been the relationship between Obama and Clinton's since he took the nomination in 2008

[Bluenorthwest]

20. His staff got too huffy? Samantha Power called Hillary a monster who would do anything to win.

A monster. She was fired but of course now she hold a hugely important position of great power as reward for her attack. A monster. That's 'huffy'?

I'm not faith based, so I see Barack hire Power, Power calls Hillary a monster, Obama appoints Power. Clearly Obama is fine with calling Hillary a monster. If he was not, Power would not have power. But she does, as reward for being a Monster Shouter.

I wish people would own what they do. It's so smarmy the way politicians are about themselves.

[Cali_Democrat]

29. And yet Obama appointed Hillary to be his SOS

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Obama and Hillary both ran heavily religious campaigns riddled with Christian imagery and excusing

the hateful biases of anyone who claimed to be 'of the faith' they both shared. It is not surprising to me in the least that those loyalties so loudly spoken in the past still prove true.

Sadly for her, Obama got the last free pass for anti gay politicians. Those who advanced themselves by those means are not ever getting a vote from me in any primary. If that sort of candidate is nominated that will define this Party as being so bigoted it makes the Oscars look inclusive. I'm done with that sort of person, they are the past and need to step off the leadership stage.

[randys1]

27. So if Hillary is the nominee you will actively/aggresively work against her or just passively?

[swilton]

12. Only your third reason is based upon evidence -

How do you know what Obama knows..........didn't know we had any mind readers around here? More importantly your first point totally contradicts the polling evidence that shows Sanders ahead of Hillary in match-ups against the GOP contenders.

[Cali_Democrat]

15. As I mentioned in the OP

Bernie has been handled with kid gloves by the media and the GOP. Hell, Karl Rove is openly rooting for Bernie Sanders to beat Hillary.

Bernie hasn't been scrutinized and once he does get scrutiny, it would be all over for his candidacy.

[jkbRN]

14. Of course, but what unsettles many democrats about Obama,

Is what Bernie is fighting to make up for, HRC will continue the same crap as Obama. Horrible compromises.

[Cali_Democrat]

17. Except, not very many liberals are unsettled by Obama.

Anonymous message boards are hardly representative of anything.

In fact, Obama's approval ratings among liberal Dems currently stands at 92%

http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Approval-Center.aspx

[gwheezie]

18. Why didn't Obama make Bernie sec of state?

Then Bernie wouldn't have this problem.
Sarcasm.

[kath]

21. yeah, DLC/ThirdWay/TrojanHorse types stick together. No surprise there.

[Cali_Democrat]

22. Why does Obama have a 92% approval rating from liberal dems?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Approval-Center.aspx

[mhatrw]

25. Shiny Third Way backs dull Third Way over New Deal way.

It's no surprise.

[riversedge]

26. “She can govern and she can start here, Day One, more experienced than any non-vice-president has ev

Obama nudges Democrats toward Clinton, even as White House strains to remain neutral in primary


http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-democratic-race-20150125-story.html

During an interview published Monday, President Obama was cautious in showing explicit favor in the Democratic race, but he underscored the strengths of front-runner Hillary Clinton. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press)
Michael A. Memoli and Christi ParsonsContact Reporters

Any concerns at the White House about a potentially divisive Democratic primary seemed put to rest when Vice President Joe Biden took himself out of the running last fall.

But with the first votes being cast in a week in Iowa and an eye toward preserving his own legacy, President Obama came off the sidelines Monday and inserted himself into the increasingly bitter nomination fight between his former secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the populist insurgent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Obama abandoned almost all pretense of disengagement by suggesting in an interview that Clinton is a “good, smart, tough” person up against a “bright, shiny” new alternative who remains less tested than her, a reminder about picking a nominee who can win a tough general election.

“She can govern and she can start here, Day One, more experienced than any non-vice-president has ever been who aspires to this office,” he told Politico.....................

[BlueMTexpat]

30. + a million or so! eom

[Hekate]

28. Kickety