Keller @ Large: Roundtable Discussion On The Week In Politics
BOSTON (CBS) -- With Bernie Sanders calling Hillary Clinton "unqualified," Bill Clinton getting in a spat with protesters, and Donald Trump's campaign losing ground to Ted Cruz, a lot happened on the campaign trail this week.
Boston Globe columnist Marcela Garcia and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts Darnell Williams joined WBZ political correspondent Jon Keller to discuss the busy week in politics.
When Hillary Clinton accused Sanders of "failing to do his homework" after he struggled to explain how he would implement some of his policies in an interview, Sanders responded with a list of reasons why he thought she wasn't qualified to be president. Garcia told Keller that Hillary got the better of that exchange.
"I think it was Hillary, because you can make a strong case that a lot of the policies that Sanders is proposing are very weak," said Garcia. "In terms of healthcare, for example--single payer. That idea has been proven just not to work in the United States."
More: Keller @ Large: Trump And Sanders Have To Do Better Than This
Williams said Sanders "crashed and burned."
"Was he really trying to throw something out there to be inflammatory?" asked Williams. "Because Hillary is probably, and in my humble opinion, the most qualified, trained, and experienced person running for the White House in my recent memory. I think that was a dud."
In Philadelphia this week, Hillary's husband and former president Bill Clinton was heckled by Black Lives Matter protesters while stumping for his wife. The protesters were upset about Clinton-era crime legislation and Hillary's defense of it as a necessary crackdown on "super predators," a term many see as racist. Bill Clinton yelled back at the protesters, telling them, "You're defending the people who kill the lives you say matter."
Williams said the incident came about because Bill Clinton was "passionate" in his views, and said that the conversation over what was done about crime in the 90s should be longer than just a soundbite. Garcia, however, said that the protesters had a point.
"I was thinking how the Clintons have been able to get away with this in the black community, because again, this crime bill really unleashed a lot of bad things," she said. "The rates of incarceration, obviously very high for black and Latino people...I've been very surprised that hasn't affected the support in the black community for Hillary."
Keller switched talk to the Republican race, mentioning a poll that found 7 in 10 people have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. He asked Garcia and Williams if this meant the end of the Trump honeymoon. Garcia warned about reading too much into those numbers.
More: Keller @ Large: Is Trump In Trouble?
"I want to believe we are, but I'm just not sure," said Garcia. "But I honestly believe that there are a lot of people who say that they don't like Trump, that they agree with the critics, that he's not qualified to be a president, that he's not presidential, that he's a terrible businessman--but who still would vote for Trump."
Williams said it was all about timing. Trump's comments on abortion, his interview on his foreign policy plan, and his campaign manager being arrested for battery all happened recently.
"The key is, that was a perfect two-week storm that converged on Donald Trump," said Williams. "I think people are starting to realize he's a blustering person, he has a blustering personality, he's a master manipulator of the media--but when it comes to the depth and the acumen that it requires to be in the Oval Office, I think that the covers are off."
In an extended, web-exclusive extended discussion, the panel talked more about Trump and discussed the charter school debate in Massachusetts.
Watch the extended clip here:
