ALEXANDRIA, Va. — While stumping for his wife six days before Super Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton explained that the reason young people are “frustrated” with politics is because their personal economic situations haven’t improved enough under the Obama administration.
“There is an explanation for the fervor the anger and the uncertainty about the future that so many people feel,” the 42nd president said. “So many Americans see that beautiful picture [the president talks about] and they cant find themselves in it.”
On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton attempts to tie herself as closely as she can to President Obama, and has even criticized Bernie Sanders for not supporting the president enough.
But her husband’s stump speech contains at least an implicit suggestion that not everything has improved during the Obama administration. Six years into his presidency, the benefits of federal loans disappeared and now too many millenials are dealing with a debt they can’t pay off or refinance, he said.
“So they’re thinking, ‘How am I getting in this picture? I cant even move out of my parents house. I’ll never be able to borrow money to own my own home or own my own business,'” Clinton said. “So that’s the problem. Hillary is running for president to put everyone in the picture of America’s future.”
The former secretary of state currently leads Sanders 52-40 in Virginia according to polling averages. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is a Clinton family ally, supporting Hillary for president. His wife Dorthy introduced Bill Clinton in Alexandria, calling him “the greatest president in the history of the United States.”
As the Clintons look towards the general election, the former president took the opportunity to knock the Republicans. He took aim at Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
“I heard that line again last night. ‘We’re going to make America great again,'” Clinton said. “I got news for Republicans: America never stopped being great. What we need to do is make America whole so it starts working for everybody.”
