Sanders disturbs Clinton playbook for 2016 election: Analyst

An unexpectedly strong challenge to US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by her rival Bernie Sanders has completely disturbed the Clinton playbook for this election, an American political analyst says.

Myles Hoenig made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on a statement by Clinton who said on Friday if elected president she would go after big banks on Wall Street that pose “a systemic risk.”

In her interview with MSNBC, Clinton also defended her paid speeches to Wall Street would not soften her campaign pledges to rein in the financial industry.

“On the MSNBC morning show Hillary Clinton engaged in political damage control. She says that what she has said to the bankers in many well-paid speaking engagements amounts to chastising them for their recklessness and of her ability to reign in those that go too far,” Hoenig said.

“On the surface, and even deeper, it’s laughable. Whether she tells them to ‘cut it out’ or threatens her potential administration’s justice department going after them is only for show,” he added.  

“One does not get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and millions overall, by bankers and other corporations, to be their good conscience,” he stated.

“People are paid to tell them what they want to do, or if it’s something uncomfortable, how to avoid or minimize damage, such as a criminal investigation or legislation to reign them in,” the analyst continued.

Clinton is also under fire over her close connections to big banks on Wall Street and accepting large amounts for making speeches.

According to a report by CNN, Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, made a combined $153 million off paid speeches from 2001 to 2015.

According to CNN’s analysis, in total, the couple gave 729 speeches from February 2001 to May 2015 -- when Hillary launched her presidential campaign -- for an average payout of $210,795 for each speech.

Of those speeches, at least 39 were given to big banks -- including Goldman Sachs and UBS – which paid the couple $7.7 million.

Hoenig said “the race between Clinton and Sanders has completely disturbed the Clinton playbook for this election. No longer being a coronation, she is forced to answer for her actions and policies that go against the grain of the Democratic voters who cast their vote during each primary or caucus. This was not supposed to happen for the Clinton camp.”

“The most serious problem is not just what she said but her unwillingness to explain it in a way that would satisfy most people,” he said.

“After all, regardless of what she says about it, the majority of voters would not trust her to be telling the truth, or would believe that she is still holding things back. This has been her persona for as long as Americans got to know her,” he noted.

“Other than Trump, she is the least trusted politician on the open market. Others may be despised because they believe and act on policies inimical to basic decency, such as Cruz holding back funding for the people of Flint, Michigan, poisoned by their governor in an attempt to save money for the state, but few are deemed as untrustworthy as she,” the commentator said.

“It is said that the cover up is always more damaging than the actual crime. Clinton is doing her very best to prove that. No crime was committed, but what she is covering up is her fealty to the 1 percent that maintain control over the White House and Congress,” he observed.

“The entire Clinton family is awash in obeisance to the ruling class,” Hoenig concluded. 

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