WASHINGTON — With the country still reeling from deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, Hillary Rodham Clinton cast herself as America’s strongest leader in a scary world, even as she was forced to defend her own role during the rise of the Islamic State militants.
“This election is not only about electing a president, it’s also about choosing our next commander in chief,” Clinton said Saturday night in the Democrats’ second debate of the presidential campaign. “All of the other issues we want to deal with depend upon us being secure and strong.”
Amid the backdrop of global anxiety, Clinton found herself fending off questions about not only her foreign policy record but her economic ties, with both Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley painting the former senator from New York as a lackey for Wall Street and corporate interests.
“Let’s not be naive about it,” said Sanders, noting that Clinton collected millions in campaign donations from Wall Street bankers. “They expect to get something. Everybody knows that.”
The barbs marked a far more aggressive shift in a primary race that has so far been notable for its civility. Democrats have spent months boasting about the substantive tone of their contest, attempting to set up a favorable early contrast with the frequent insults of the crowded Republican primary field.
Clinton faced criticism of her national security record, when Sanders traced the current instability in the Middle East to the Senate’s vote – including Clinton’s – to authorize military action in Iraq in 2002. He said that U.S. invasion “unraveled the region.”
But the former secretary of state fought back, saying terrorism has been erupting for decades, specifically mentioning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. She said the recent unrest in Libya and other parts of the Middle East is symptomatic of an “arc of instability from North Africa to Afghanistan.”
She rejected the idea that she and the rest of the Obama administration underestimated the growing threat of the Islamic State.
The back-and-forth revealed a foreign policy split within the Democratic Party, with Sanders playing to the anti-war activists who boosted then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to victory in 2008.
Sanders argued for a far more hands-off approach, advocating for Muslim countries to lead the fight and declaring that the war against Islamic State militants is about the “soul of Islam.”
Clinton has a history of advocating for more robust involvement around the globe – both as a presidential candidate eight years ago and as Obama’s secretary of state. In recent weeks, she has called for a more aggressive U.S. role in the Syrian conflict, including a no-fly zone over the area, a move the Obama administration opposes.
The conversation later pivoted to economic issues, with the candidates tangling over how to pay for their plans to expand college affordability, family leave and prescription drug coverage. All three agreed that wealthy citizens and corporations should pay more in taxes to benefit the middle class.
“I’m not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower,” joked Sanders, saying the former president backed a 90 percent marginal tax rate.
The three tangled over how much to increase the minimum wage, with Clinton backing a $12-per-hour federal floor while Sanders and O’Malley said $15 an hour – the rate being pushed by a campaign of fast-food workers and labor unions.
Since the party’s first debate a month ago, Clinton has built a lead in the early voting states, an uptick that has come amid other signs the party is coalescing behind her. An Associated Press survey of superdelegates published Friday found that half of the Democratic insiders are publicly backing Clinton.
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