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 Obama's kind words for his former secretary of state, in a
Politico interview published on Monday, will help Clinton as she
tries to link her campaign more closely with the president and so
draw in more support from his backers.
While never explicitly criticizing Sanders, a senator from Vermont
whose campaign is focused on pledges to redress social inequality
and contain Wall Street excesses, Obama praised Clinton's experience
and suggested several times that Clinton's messages are grounded in
realism.
"(S)he’s extraordinarily experienced — and, you know, wicked smart
and knows every policy inside and out — (and) sometimes (that) could
make her more cautious, and her campaign more prose than poetry,"
Obama said.
The interview was conducted on Friday and published a week before
the Feb. 1 voting in Iowa, which launches the process to pick the
parties' nominees for the November presidential election.
 Clinton, who lost the Democratic primary to Obama in 2008, was for
months the clear front-runner to be the party's nominee this time
around, but opinion polls have showed a surge of support for Sanders
in recent weeks.
She argues that while Sanders' goals on issues such as social
inequality are laudable, some are unobtainable and he lacks the
experience to tackle a wide range of issues.
"When you’re in the White House you cannot pick the issues you want
to work on, you’ve got to be ready to take on every issue that comes
your way, including those you cannot predict," Clinton told the
Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines on Monday.
In an echo of that point that will be gratifying to the Clinton
campaign, Obama said in the Politico interview, "(The) one thing
everybody understands is that this job right here, you don’t have
the luxury of just focusing on one thing.”
"I think that what Hillary presents is a recognition that
translating values into governance and delivering the goods is
ultimately the job of politics, making a real-life difference to
people in their day-to-day lives," he said.
Obama, who remains very popular within the Democratic Party, has
said he will not endorse a candidate in the primary but has admitted
he is watching closely to see who will succeed him.
All three Democrats in the race - Clinton, Sanders and former
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley - were set for a prime-time
opportunity to make their closing arguments on Monday night in a
nationally televised town hall meeting on CNN due to begin at 9 p.m.
EST (0200 GMT).
The candidates were set to appear individually on stage, fielding
questions from the moderators and trying to make their final pitches
ahead of the Iowa voting.
In the interview, Obama took issue with comparisons being made by
pundits between himself and Sanders. The Vermont senator is often
described as an underdog candidate who excites young voters and
draws larger crowds - as Obama did in his come-from-behind primary
win in 2008.
"I don’t think that's true," Obama said when asked whether Sanders
reminded him of himself. However, Obama did note that Sanders had
the "luxury of being a complete long shot and just letting loose,"
while "Hillary came in with the both privilege — and burden — of
being perceived as the front-runner."
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Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, agreed they are not the
same, but still pointed to a similar crowd response and said Sanders
enjoys a similar momentum. "They're obviously very different
people," Weaver told CNN.
REPUBLICANS GRAPPLE FOR BIG IOWA FINISH
On the Republican side of the nomination fight, the battle for
endorsements and voters gathered pace.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida appeared at a Des Moines rally with
Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, who told the crowd she was
not endorsing a candidate but called him "someone who is very near
and dear to my heart and a good friend to me."
Taking questions from reporters after the event, Rubio expressed
confidence in a solid finish in Iowa. Given his current place in the
polls, finishing third would likely be portrayed as a victory for
Rubio.
“We feel very positive about it," he said. "We feel a real good vibe
here.”
Iowa's other senator, Chuck Grassley, raised eyebrows on Saturday
when he appeared at a Donald Trump event. Grassley stressed he was
not providing a formal endorsement.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas picked up the endorsement of former
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who dropped out of the presidential
campaign last year after failing to gain traction. This was a first
endorsement by a former governor for Cruz, who has received no
endorsements from sitting senators despite serving in the chamber.
Opinion polls show Trump, a real estate mogul, and Cruz locked in a
tight battle to win the Iowa voting.
Trump launched a video on Facebook arguing that the "establishment"
is trying to undermine his campaign - a direct response to recent
attacks by Cruz that he is part of the establishment.
Being dubbed part of the establishment has taken on a strong
negative connotation in the Republican campaign as candidates
presenting themselves as outsiders have risen in the polls. The
video got more than 370,000 views in the first three hours.
(Story refiles to add dropped first name of president in paragraph
1)
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey
and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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