Bill Clinton Says Obama Got Better Political Press Due to his Race

“They did treat him [Obama] differently than other Democrats and Republicans,” said Clinton on CBS This Morning. “It was the political press  Why? “I don’t know. They liked him. And they liked having the first African-American president, and he was a good president I think. I don’t agree with President Trump’s assessment of his service.”

The CBS correspondent Mo Rocca also asked if he thought “the press has been fair to President Trump” in relation to the Russia investigation and Clinton said that the press has “tried by and large to cover this investigation based on the facts.”

Clinton then said he thought if Trump was a Democrat the press would be giving him a much harder time. 

“I think if the roles were reversed now,” said Clinton. “I’m just — this is me just talkin’. Based on my experience. If it were a democratic president, and these facts were present, most people I know in Washington believe impeachment hearings would have begun already.”

But Rocca pointed out that Trump is being especially criticised by the media.

“You hear from Trump supporters who say, ‘the press slobbered all over President Obama. He could do no wrong, and now this guy can do no right. What gives?’ That there’s a kind of whiplash,” said Rocco.

Clinton also addressed his own scandal when he was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for lying about his relationship with the former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

He said he knew the attempt to impeach him wouldn’t succeed. 

“Well, I knew it wouldn’t succeed,” said Clinton. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience. But it was a fight that I was glad to undertake after the elections, when the people had solidly told, by two-thirds or more, the Republicans to stop it. They knew there was nothing impeachable. And so, we fought it to the end. And I’m glad.”

In light of the #MeToo movement, Clinton is also getting backlash for saying he didn’t owe Lewinsky an apology and hasn’t spoken to her since the scandal in an interview with NBC‘s Craig Melvin on Monday.

Clinton has been on a press tour promoting his new novel, The President is Missing, a fiction book co-written with James Patterson.

Author’s note: If a Republican said Obama was treated more fairly by the press because he was an African American, they would have been called a racist in every headline. However, it’s clear that Obama and Trump have had different experiences when it comes to the media. The media has been on a witch hunt to ruin Trump, while Obama could do no wrong.