Maggie Haberman of the New York Times said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union that Hillary Clinton will have a tough time separating herself from President Obama on policy issues during the 2016 general election.
When discussing Clinton's national security address from Thursday, which focused on her strategy to defeat Islamic State, Haberman argued that while the Democratic frontrunner's speech "can be heard as an implicit criticism of President Obama...she's not really that far off on policy on where he is."
Haberman described how most of the differences between Clinton and Obama are "style points in terms of how Obama has portrayed American leadership here and overseas" as opposed to any separation between the two on policy positions.
"It is going to be difficult when we get to a general election for Hillary Clinton...to argue this case and still separate herself from the president," said Haberman.
Obama vigorously defended his policy to counter Islamic State this past week, calling the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people and wounded hundreds more a "setback." Obama received sharp criticism from onlookers for his rhetoric immediately following the attacks, which included snapping at reporters for asking him repeated questions about his strategy toward IS and seeming to reserve his strongest words for Republicans opposed to allowing in Syrian refugees for national security reasons.
Many Republicans and Democrats have called for a change to the current strategy, including some who have advocated for more U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria.