A longtime Obama advisor said Sunday that Hillary Clinton needs to “untether” herself from talking points and teleprompters to overcome her presidential campaign woes.
Sometimes Clinton appears to be using “calibrated language,” David Axelrod said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He said that’s a problem for her because voters “want to know the person they’re voting for is comfortable in their own skin.”
Clinton has been suffering in early battleground states, including Iowa and New Hampshire, as a controversy over her use of a private email while secretary of state grinds on. But Axelrod noted that she’s still leading her Democratic rivals nationwide and in many states, especially those with larger minority populations.
Axelrod recalled a tough point in Obama’s first campaign for president eight years ago, when “people were reading last rites” to the Obama campaign. Based on that experience, he urged Clinton to keep a long-term view.
“It’s a very uncomfortable place to be, but you have to keep your perspective in the middle of the storm,” he said.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has recently performed better in polls than many expected, and now leads Hillary Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the two states that are first in line next year to select the Republican and Democratic nominees for president.
Axelrod also praised Sanders’ sincerity and congratulated him on doing “a great job” with his campaign.
“I have to give him a great deal of credit,” Axelrod said. “He comes across as a guy who believes exactly what he’s saying.”
