President Obama told a group of college students gathered at the White House on Thursday that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) deserved “some credit” for running a campaign based on small donations.
Obama interrupted a press conference for student journalists participating in the first White House College Reporter Day to give a brief speech about the Senate’s refusal to consider his Supreme Court nominee. He then fielded several questions. When asked about cynicism in government, Obama said there was “no dispute” democracy isn’t working as it should be.
“I’m a strong believer in, you know, finding ways in which we can make the financing of campaigns more democratic,” Obama said. “Now we’ve seen some interesting work being done by — you know you’ve got to give Bernie Sanders, for example, credit building up some of the work that I did. I in turn built up the work that Howard Dean did, for smaller donations, grassroots donors to be able in small contributions to allow candidates to be competitive.”
Obama continued, saying that the technique doesn’t work for everyone, such as “lower profile” Congress members who don’t attract a “viral presence.”
The press briefing room was packed with students from around the country and both Obama and Press Secretary Josh Earnest took several questions as some pool reporters hung in the back.
One student told Obama he was nervous and proceeded to ask for a one-on-one interview with the president. Obama said he normally debriefed with his team before granting interviews, but promised the student a little bit of time. Another student asked a question and then for a photograph with Obama. He declined, saying if he granted one photograph, he’d have a line for them.
As Obama walked in the room, many of the students took out their cellphones to take pictures of the president. In perhaps a telling instance of the average age of the room, a female student was called on by Obama and she prefaced her question by saying, “Heyy.”
Obama said, “Heyy” back to her.
Watch the exchange:
.@POTUS: “Hey…” https://t.co/0aLHziiT3x
— POLITICO (@politico) April 28, 2016
