Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza said Wednesday that Hillary Clinton sounded like she was defending Obama’s foreign policy in the Democratic debate Saturday, despite her need to differentiate herself from the president.
Cillizza said she "struggled" during the foreign policy-focused opening of the debate and demonstrated acceptance of the Obama administration’s policies.
"I think she struggled a little bit in the first 30 minutes or so of the debate," in that she sounded like a "a defender of the status quo of President Obama, essentially saying, ‘Well, we did what we could. I agree with the president,’" he said.
While Cillizza predicted that Clinton is "very likely" to be the Democratic nominee, he said that her decision to align herself with the president may hurt her campaign.
"Defending" Obama’s foreign policy, he said, "when you know you're going to be attacked as the third term of Obama" will not help her in a general election.
"She’s got to find ways to differentiate and explain herself a little bit better," Cillizza said.
Clinton’s need to differentiate herself is necessary after this week's mounting criticism of Obama’s strategy against the Islamic State, which he has refused to change even in the wake of the attacks in Paris.
After President Obama sent in 50 special forces and said that the terror group was ‘contained’ last week, former ambassador Ryan Crocker said that "[50 personnel] is not going to be a game-changer in this fight against ISIS."
"If ISIS is truly a threat in the region," Crocker said, "we really need to ramp up our game, not just make incremental changes."