New York City’s Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio officially announced on Friday’s Morning Joe that he was endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2016 and defended her flips on various positions after being reticent on Meet the Press this year to back the candidate.
"I think like a lot of people in this country I want to see a vision," de Blasio told Chuck Todd in April.
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough asked de Blasio about how Clinton has changed in the last six months to warrant a endorsement from him. He responded that the best thing about the Democratic Party versus the Republican Party is that the Democratic Party is challenging each other on positions whereas the Republican Party is stuck in their ways.
De Blasio talked about his time as Clinton’s campaign manager in New York and said that she had a powerful vision and that there was a true authenticity there. But when de Blasio was on Meet the Press, he said that he was not going to endorse a candidate until there was "clear, bold vision" of where she wanted to go.
Scarborough brought up Clinton’s recent flip-flop on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and if it bothered or concerned him. Clinton had once said that it was the gold standard in trade deals but earlier this month she said that the deal no longer met her standards.
De Blasio accused Scarborough of asking the question the wrong way and said that the real question that needs to be asked is what Clinton stands for. Scarborough asked him whether he was bothered that the candidate he is endorsing is notorious for flip-flopping on issues. De Blasio said that he was not concerned and everyone was missing the forest for the trees.
"She said very clearly that here is a standard I have to see met to protect American workers and when she saw the product of TPP it did not meet that," de Blasio said.
Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin asked de Blasio why he was endorsing Clinton when a lot of the progressive views held by the mayor are shared with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.). De Blasio said that Sanders had started conversations in the country but never gave a reason why he was endorsing Clinton over Sanders.