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Clinton, Sanders debate focuses on Wall Street, jobs, race, health care, education, Syria

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (KUNA) -- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders held their second one-on-one Democratic presidential debate on Thursday night with lively exchanges on the issues of Wall Street, jobs, race, health care, education and the Syrian refugee crisis.
Vermont Senator Sanders said his campaign is about "creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans -- working people who have given up on the political process ... tens of millions of people -- come together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us, not just the one percent" who are super wealthy.
Former secretary of State Clinton said, "I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe that we live in a single-issue country." The United States has much to overcome, she said, from the poisoned water in Flint, Michigan, to Americans "put down or depressed" by racism, sexism or discrimination.
"I am going keep talking about tearing down all the barriers standing in the way of Americans fulfilling all their potential," Clinton said. Both Clinton and Sanders offered words of support for refugees fleeing war-torn Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
Clinton said the United States should work with partners in the region and welcome properly vetted refugees. "This is a humanitarian catastrophe, no question about it," she said.
Sanders recalled a visit to a Turkish refugee camp on the Syrian border where he saw men, women and children forced to flee violence and persecution. "It seems to me, given our history as a ... beacon of hope for the distressed, downtrodden, I strongly disagree with those Republican candidates" who want to seal off the nation's borders, Sanders said. "The entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis." Clinton said a cease-fire in Syria has to be implemented more quickly than was agreed upon by major world powers.
She said Russia would "do everything they can to destroy what is left of the opposition" in Syria before the cease-fire deadline in one week. She encouraged the United States to expedite that deadline and work to implement the humanitarian aid included in the agreement by world powers.
Sanders applauded how President Barack Obama has handled Russia President Vladimir Putin and said the United States needs to put more economic pressure on Russia. Sanders said Putin's aggression, like his incursion into Crimea, cannot go unchecked.
In an attack on Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Clinton said that American Muslims "need to feel not just invited but welcome within the American society," adding that Trump's rhetoric against American Muslims is "not only offensive, it is dangerous." Sanders again brought up his vote against the Iraq War in 2003, saying of then-President George W. Bush and then-Vice President Dick Cheney, "I listened very carefully to what Bush and Cheney had to say, and I did not believe them." Clinton, who voted to authorize the Iraq War, said we should not be looking at the past, but instead "focus on the threats today ... understand the world we are living in today." The rivals met in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the PBS "NewsHour" debate -- their first clash since Sanders defeated Clinton by a 20-point margin on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary, which followed Clinton's razor-thin win in the Iowa caucuses.
The debate came a week before the Democratic caucuses in Nevada on Feb. 20.
Clinton put Sanders on defense much of the night, but Sanders did not cede much ground.
At one point, Clinton told him, "We are not France," after Sanders had complained that the United States was the only major industrialized power in the world that did not provide universal health care for its citizens. "We should not make promises we cannot keep," Clinton said. She warned that Sanders' plans to push for a single-payer health care program would gridlock the political system and jeopardize the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
Clinton went after Sanders hard for his criticism of Obama. Sanders recently said Obama had a "presidential leadership gap." Sanders noted his strong overall support for Obama and said Clinton's remarks were a "low blow." He also stepped up his criticism of her Wall Street campaign donations.
"One of us ran against Barack Obama," Sanders said, referring to the 2008 presidential election when Clinton ran against Obama. "I was not that candidate." "Yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top," Clinton said. "I know a lot of Americans are angry at the economy and for good cause." "Americans have not had a raise in 15 years," Clinton said, adding that she wanted to do more to ensure that "Wall Street never wrecks Main Street again." (end) rm.tg