--- title: Bernie Sanders Says Hillary Clinton 'Loves' Obama To Sway Black Voters description: Bernie Sanders accused Hillary Clinton of pandering to black voters by aligning herself with President Barack Obama. canonical: https://time.com/4230323/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-obama-black-voters/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-19T12:45:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:12:54.294Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters og:description: "She loves the President, he loves her and all that stuff" og:url: https://time.com/4230323/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-obama-black-voters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1da0ea1c5cfe072/69887dc92dce01e0439e7d4b/sanders-clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: sanders-clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters twitter:description: "She loves the President, he loves her and all that stuff" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1da0ea1c5cfe072/69887dc92dce01e0439e7d4b/sanders-clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sanders Says Clinton 'Loves' Obama Just to Pander to Black Voters  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 19, 2016 12:45 PM UTC  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](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 19, 2016 12:45 PM UTC 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) 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). “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/), a critical part of the Democratic constituency. A recent CNN poll found former Clinton leading with among black voters, 65% to 28%. 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