President Obama does not think that Hillary Clinton is struggling in her quest to be his successor as President of the United States, although polls suggest otherwise.
During the White House press briefing today, press secretary Josh Earnest insisted that Obama did not share the view that Hillary Clinton was in trouble.
“Is it the president’s view that Hillary Clinton is struggling right now?” asked CNN’s Jim Acosta.
“No, that’s not the president’s view,” Earnest said. It still early in the presidential primaries, he said, adding that it is “unwise” to draw any conclusions.
The White House has carefully refrained from commenting on any of Clinton’s dwindling poll numbers. Last week, Earnest reminded reporters that Obama’s polls were low in September and August of 2007, before he went on to win the primary against Clinton.
“Secretary Clinton’s standing in the polls here a little over a year before the general election are certainly better than the kind of poll numbers he had a little more than a year before the general election in 2008,” he said. “And so I think at this point it’s far too early to make judgments about how this process will end.”
When Earnest was asked if the White House believed Clinton’s “apology” for the email scandal was appropriate, he referred reporters back to her campaign.
“She can speak for herself when it comes to her own views about what exactly she needed to apologize for and I’ll let her do that,” he explained, adding that he was not “aware” of Obama mentioning the fact that Clinton was using a private email address.
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