Finally, somebody said it: “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”

During the first of the democratic debates, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders let everyone know how he felt about the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s personal emails. With more important issues going in our country right now, he believes we should not still be concerned with Clinton’s emails.

“I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we are going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the emails. Let’s talk about the real issues facing America,” Sanders said during the debate.

Shutting down all future questions he might get asked pertaining to the emails, Sanders has opened up new discussions on how his statement might affect his chances in the race.  Thoughts are circulating that this might be a disadvantage to him because he won’t be able to hold that against her, but what Sanders really did was let us know he isn’t here for the drama — he is here to better our country.

Arising in March of 2015, the hullabaloo over Clinton’s private emails has been a hot topic for discussion among all the candidates. Clinton was found to have used a personal email account on a non-government server while conducting official business during her time as United States secretary of state. Donald Trump said he believes she should drop out of the race because of it. With so much attention being paid to the emails, the real issues were forgotten and that’s what Sanders reminded us of.

With his polls climbing to new heights, Sanders’ comments should push him even higher. He is over the issue and thinks everyone else should be too. Stating more important topics we need to consider, he let us know that what Clinton does on her own time shouldn’t be a concern. What we should be concerned about is what is actually going on in our country.

The incident occurred several months ago, and still nothing incredibly vital has turned up in her deleted emails. It should not still be coming up, whether people are coming to Clinton’s aid or not.

Now, I’m not advocating for Clinton; I believe what she did was wrong. However, like Sanders said, there is so much more that we need to be focusing on. With poverty, job loss and still a great deal going on in the Middle East, Clinton’s emails should not be a main priority. We need to stop directing our attention to things she might have said in the past and start focusing on where she and other candidates stand on issues that are of greater concern.