Paul: Clinton distancing from Obama won’t work
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Friday there are not many areas of disagreement between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama, and any efforts on her part to highlight contrasts are disingenuous.
The comments could be a preview of a line of attack in the 2016 presidential race, if Paul faces Clinton.
{mosads}”I think she is going to try to say ‘Oh, I’m different than President Obama. He’s very unpopular, but I have different policies,’ ” Paul said on Fox News. “Well, she was part of his administration, and I really don’t know of many, if any, policies they disagree on.”
It is an open question how far Clinton will try to distance herself from Obama. The main instance so far has been an interview with The Atlantic in August, where she criticized his policy on Syria and his “Don’t do stupid stuff” mantra. She then walked back the comments after a backlash.
Paul has been trying to tie Clinton, who campaigned heavily for Democrats in the midterm elections, to the losses on election night, branding Democrats who lost “Hillary’s losers.”
“She is seen as the leader of their party and the potential leader in their nominating process,” Paul said in the interview Friday.
“I think it’s a mistake to let someone — I’m not talking about whether I’m running — but to let someone run unopposed. And I think, in the past, we haven’t gone after the opposing party’s nominee to say who they are and what they represent.”
As for whether he is running, Paul said, “I am thinking maybe, and we’re going to keep looking at it for the next six months or so.”
He emphasized his efforts to attract African-Americans and Democratic supporters to the Republican Party.
“We did a lot better on election night, but we still struggled in Michigan; we’re struggling in Pennsylvania; we’re struggling in California and New York,” Paul said. “We have to change the demographic of who we attract, and I think you only do that by bringing fresh, new ideas.”
He pointed to the Republican gubernatorial winner on Tuesday in Illinois, Bruce Rauner, as winning with an emphasis on school choice, noting ideas like that could help Republicans in cities.
“I would dramatically lower the taxes in Detroit, a billion dollars, and that would be the stimulus for Detroit, and I don’t think Democrats really have anything to counteract that with, or really have shown much concern for those who live in Detroit,” Paul said.