Liberal MSNBC host Joy Reid fretted about the extended attacks on Barack Obama’s legacy by Democratic primary contenders on the debate stage Wednesday.
With Obama’s Vice President Joe Biden at center stage, liberal Democrats like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro hit him over the Obama-Biden record on flaws with Obamacare and deporting millions of illegal immigrants.
Reid, who worked for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, urged Democrats to focus their fire on President Donald Trump.
“It was weird for me to watch almost 40 minutes of primarily attacks on the Obama administration’s policies,” she said. “It was odd. I mean, de Blasio made a full-on attack of Obamacare, essentially said we have no working health care system in America. But hello, we have Obamacare, so that means the system he’s attacking and saying isn’t working is Obamacare.”
Reid said it felt like Hillary Clinton was president rather than Trump, and the Democrats were simply debating how to further fix health care in the United States.
“It was an odd strategy to me … It’s almost as if the debate forgot who’s president, because the attacks on Donald Trump, I don’t remember his name being mentioned that much,” she said. “And so it was odd for me for these candidates to debate changes in health care and their different policies on immigration as if Trump doesn’t exist … Hit the president! Donald Trump is supposed to be who you’re running against, not Barack Obama.
Host Brian Williams pointed out Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough felt similarly; the former Republican who boosted Trump during the 2016 primary campaign has become one of the staunchest Trump foes on television and decried the attacks on Obama during the debate.
David Rutz is managing editor of the Washington Free Beacon. He was previously a sports reporter for two years in Atlanta and has done freelance sports reporting for the Washington Post. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2010 and lives in Marietta, Ga. His Twitter handle is @DavidRutz.