THE CONTENDERS| One of the most awkward moments so far tonight was when Hillary Clinton came prepared to confront Bernie Sanders with his own past statements critical of President Obama.

In South Carolina, where African-Americans are a majority of the Democratic electorate, Clinton’s campaign strategy has been to stay as close to Obama’s legacy as possible. African American voters overwhelmingly supported Obama in the last two elections, and in general are overwhelmingly supportive of his presidency.

At the first opportunity, Clinton resurfaced comments Sanders made in 2011 in which he was highly critical of Obama leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

“Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing,” Clinton said, as Bernie Sanders grimaced on a podium next to her. “He even in 2011 publicly sought someone to run in a primary against president Obama.”

This is what Clinton was talking about.

Appearing on a progressive radio show in 2011, Sanders had this to say about Obama in response to a question:

“I think there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president; who believe that, with regard to Social Security and a number of other issues, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president; who cannot believe how weak he has been, for whatever reason, in negotiating with Republicans and there’s deep disappointment. So my suggestion is, I think one of the reasons the president has been able to move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing. I know that people are demoralized.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nqRsBVsFk

Arguably, Sanders wasn’t himself calling Obama “weak” and “disappointing,” but was referencing a widely held (he claimed) belief among some Democrats who weren’t happy with how Obama had shifted to the right before his re-election campaign.

Still this is a politically problematic statement — for someone running in a Democratic primary to succeed Obama — that is a matter of public record. And in South Carolina, which has a primary that comes shortly after Iowa and New Hampshire, it is even more problematic for Sanders.