Sanders seeks to draw distinctions from Clinton

Bernie Sanders is casting himself as the most populist of the Democratic presidential contenders.

The independent senator from Vermont said that while he has plenty of admiration for front-runner Hillary Clinton, there are a number of issues that distinguish him as the true candidate for the middle class.

He singled out his vote against an Iraq War that Clinton, as a New York senator, supported, as well as his staunch opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline and President Obama’s trade agenda –– two issues which Clinton has largely side-stepped.

“I like Hillary Clinton and I respect Hillary Clinton. And I’m not going to engage in personal attacks against Hillary Clinton. But there are differences of opinion that we have which should be the basis for a serious discussion,” Sanders said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program.

“On issue after issue, whether it’s raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, whether it is the trade agreement –– … she has not been clear on it — there are very significant differences of opinion that we have.”

Sanders has emerged as a surprisingly strong candidate since launching his campaign two months ago, raising $15 million and making huge gains on Clinton recently among Democratic voters in Iowa, which will host the country’s first presidential nomination vote.

The liberal icon attributes his success to a populist message that seeks to empower the middle class and erode the influence of Wall Street and other well-heeled interests.

“People are saying, enough is enough. That is not what this country is supposed to be about,” he said. We want to be able to send our kids to college. We want to be able to have decent child care. We don’t want to be the only major nation on earth that doesn’t guarantee family and medical leave, paid sick time, paid vacation time. We want a government that starts representing working families and not just wealthy campaign donors, which is what we have right now.

“I think that is the message that is resonating all across the country.”

Clinton said this week that she always anticipated a tough race, but declined to define a policy platform that might distinguish herself from Sanders.

“I will be laying out my own economic policies … and I’m going to be telling the American people what I propose and how I think it will work,” she told CNN. “And then we’ll let voters make up their minds.”

Clinton is expected to lay out her economic agenda in a speech Monday.

Republicans, meanwhile, haven’t been so soft on Sanders. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who entered Congress in the same year, noted Sanders’ socialist history and painted him –– and Clinton –– as big-government proponents with a penchant for tax hikes.

“There’s no limit to the amount of new government they want to create,” Boehner told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “I don’t think that’s where the American people want this government to go. They’re tired of this big government, big government solutions.”

Sanders wasted no time in response, accusing Boehner and the Republicans of threatening the middle class with their opposition to a minimum wage hike, new infrastructure spending and an expansion of Social Security.

“In terms of who is out of touch with the American people, I would say Republican Party is,” Sanders said. “They want to give tax breaks to billionaires, not help the middle class.”