Hillary Clinton makes use of Donald Trump missteps on race

Hillary Clinton took her general-election playbook against Republican hopeful Donald Trump for a test drive with one of her core constituencies: black voters. Photo / AP

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took her general-election playbook against Republican hopeful Donald Trump for a test drive with one of her core constituencies: black voters.

While addressing thousands of supporters at an NAACP dinner, she sharply contrasted President Barack Obama's White House with some of Trump's recent missteps on race.

She mentioned Trump's ties to the "insidious birther movement" and his initial struggle to disavow former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. (He later did, but not before a tonne of criticism.)

Then she threw out this crowd-pleaser, which received a standing ovation: "We cannot let Barack Obama's legacy fall into Donald Trump's hands."

Clinton, who after a big win in four northeastern states last week has an almost insurmountable delegate lead in the Democratic primary contest, is increasingly pivoting to general-election mode.

As she does so, she appears to be testing different attacks on her potential rival, Trump.

In Detroit, she kept her criticism of Trump focused on race, while simultaneously casting herself as the candidate who understands and can address systemic racism.