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David Axelrod: Hillary Clinton Lacks Authenticity When She Speaks

March 9, 2016

David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama, said when he was watching Hillary Clinton's speech Tuesday that authenticity was a word that did not come to mind when he hears Clinton speak.

"I was watching Secretary Clinton's speech and it's still the case that [Bernie] Sanders seems very authentic when he speaks," Axelrod said. "You get a sense that there's no filter through which his words are passing. You don't get that sense, many times, with Hillary Clinton. She works off a prompter, a lot of the phrases she uses are typical political phrases and the more she can get away from that and connect with in a real language with people--when she does that she can be effective."

CNN host Anderson Cooper asked the panel how long people have been saying that. He added that he felt that people were saying Clinton came off as inauthentic back when she first ran for president in 2008.

The Atlantic's Peter Beinart said Clinton was not inspirational.

"She's not an inspirational figure. She's not an inspiring orator," Beinart said. "Maybe Democrats have gotten used to a somewhat remarkable orator, She's not someone who really inspires."

Beinart said that you can see how Clinton has a problem attracting young people and the youth vote.

A February Wall Street Journal poll showed that likely Democratic voters under the age of 45 prefer Sanders to Clinton by 29 points.

Beinart also said that young voters are attracted to passion and authenticity. He said that the Democrats can now manufacture the passion that young voters crave into a negative thing against the Republican race.