--- description: Bernie Sanders accused Hillary Clinton of pandering to black voters by aligning herself with President Barack Obama. title: Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1da0ea1c5cfe072/69887dc92dce01e0439e7d4b/sanders-clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Bernie Sanders](/tag/bernie-sanders/) ## Bernie Sanders Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 19, 2016 12:45 PM CUT  Bernie Sanders in Denver, CO on Feb. 13, 2016 (L); Hillary Clinton in Denver, CO on Feb. 13, 2016. Bernie Sanders in Denver, CO on Feb. 13, 2016 (L); Hillary Clinton in Denver, CO on Feb. 13, 2016.Marc Piscotty—Getty Images (L); Brennan Linsley—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 19, 2016 12:45 PM CUT Bernie Sanders is [accusing Hillary Clinton of pandering to black voters](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/18/politics/bernie-sanders-attacks-hillary-clinton-bet/index.html "undefined") by closely aligning herself with President Obama. “Hillary Clinton now is trying to embrace the President as closely as she possibly can,” the Vermont Senator says in an upcoming interview with BET, excerpts of which were reported by[ CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/18/politics/bernie-sanders-attacks-hillary-clinton-bet/index.html "undefined"). “Everything the President does is wonderful. She loves the President, he loves her and all that stuff. … And we know what that’s about. That’s trying to win support from the African-American community where the President is enormously popular.” Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson hit back at Sanders, saying, “It’s disappointing that Senator Sanders thinks the only reason a Democrat would be proud of President Obama’s work would be a political ploy to court African-American voters.” Sander has [struggled to attract black voters](http://time.com/4226723/bernie-sanders-black-voters-south-carolina/ "undefined"), a critical part of the Democratic constituency. A recent CNN poll found former Clinton leading with among black voters, 65% to 28%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4230323/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-obama-black-voters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4230323/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-obama-black-voters/"},"headline":"Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters","datePublished":"2016-02-19T12:45:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:12:54.294Z","description":"\"She loves the President, he loves her and all that stuff\"","url":"https://time.com/4230323/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-obama-black-voters/","keywords":["Bernie Sanders","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1da0ea1c5cfe072/69887dc92dce01e0439e7d4b/sanders-clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1da0ea1c5cfe072/69887dc92dce01e0439e7d4b/sanders-clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"sanders-clinton","caption":"Bernie Sanders in Denver, CO on Feb. 13, 2016 (L); Hillary Clinton in Denver, CO on Feb. 13, 2016.","creditText":"Marc Piscotty—Getty Images (L); Brennan Linsley—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bernie-sanders/","name":"Bernie Sanders"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4230323/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-obama-black-voters/","name":"Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters"}}]}] ```