If you look at the numbers, Bernie Sanders is the most popular politician in America – and it’s not even close. Yet bizarrely, the Democratic party – out of power across the country and increasingly irrelevant – still refuses to embrace him and his message. It’s increasingly clear they do so at their own peril.He would have beaten Trump, IMHO.
A new Fox News poll out this week shows Sanders has a +28 net favorability rating among the US population, dwarfing all other elected politicians on both ends of the political spectrum. And he’s even more popular among the vaunted “independents”, where he is at a mind boggling +41...
One would think with numbers like that, Democratic politicians would be falling all over themselves to be associated with Sanders, especially considering the party as a whole is more unpopular than the Republicans and even Donald Trump right now. Yet instead of embracing his message, the establishment wing of the party continues to resist him at almost every turn, and they seem insistent that they don’t have to change their ways to gain back the support of huge swaths of the country....
Democrats seem more than happy to put all the blame of the 2016 election on a combination of Russia and James Comey and have engaged in almost zero introspection on the root causes of the larger reality...
In other words, they’re doubling down on the exact same failing strategy that Clinton used in the final months of the campaign. Sanders himself put it this way in his usual blunt style in an interview with New York magazine this week – when asked about whether the Democrats can adapt to the political reality, he said: “There are some people in the Democratic Party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats.”
Photo credit (cropped for size).
Respectfully disagree. In fact, I'd wager Bernie would have lost even worse.
ReplyDeleteBernie isn't a fighter. I watched Bernie debate Ted Cruz on healthcare a few weeks back, and it was something akin to senior abuse. Bernie does well with loyal crowds and when he's wagging his finger at CEOs and bankers during senate hearings, but he lacks a certain viciousness that Hillary had that let her effectively debate Trump.
Another angle:
ReplyDelete'Supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) reported earlier this month that during the 2016 election, their social media feeds and pro-Sanders Facebook groups were inundated with what they now believe were Russian bots spewing anti-Hillary memes including fake news stories about Clinton using a body double and murdering her ideological opponents. Over time the anti-Clinton online faction became known by the nickname “Bernie Bros.”'
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/russians-used-bernie-bros-as-unwitting-agents-in-disinformation-campaign-senate-intel-witness/
I also respectfully disagree. While I respect Bernie's beliefs, I think he was very vulnerable when his ideas would have been matched up with a Democratic Party platform. As a comparison, Rand Paul also engendered very wide popularity ratings on the other side, had very enthusiastic young supporters, and was not beloved of the national party organization (to be charitable...). In neither case, do I think the people were electable at a national level very similar, although ideologically different, reasons.
ReplyDeleteOn a different, less perverse timeline than the one we seem to be trapped in, maybe Bernie could have won. More likely the GOP and its co-conspirators would have taken a large club marked "Jewish Socialist" and beaten him bloody with it.
ReplyDeleteI like Bernie. He and I share a lot of views, probably more than I share with Clinton. I even think he could have won. The problem I had is that I didn't think he could govern. He's been far more successful as an icon than he has been as a legislator. Perhaps the country needed an icon more than a leader? Dunno. Guess we'll see in the coming years (or months.)
ReplyDeleteI, too, think Bernie would have beaten Trump. He certainly appealed to the same group that Trump wowed with his false promises.
ReplyDeleteThe way things are going, I wonder if in 4-8 years the Democratic and Republican parties will still be around.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they will both implode and be replaced by two or more new party systems.
We are currently in front of a huge tsunami of social and technical change. (nanotech, robots, VR, genetic engineering, etc.)
At least one new party will be in favor of change and will be eager to adapt to a faster changing society. Another new party will be afraid of change and desperately try to slow down or prevent change. The struggle between fear and hope will continue with new names and new rhetoric.
I agree wholeheartedly with this post. The notion that viciousness is a qualification for high office, is vastly over-rated. Bernie Sanders is popular because he has integrity; we saw this time and again when he was baited by talking heads of every stripe, during the primary. I'm a cynical SOB, but I'm not so convinced of American depravity that I'd leap to the conclusion a decent human being could not be elected--or govern. That aside, as Bernie has said, special interest politics has failed. Will the American working class and the poor, of every race, find their way to solidarity? I don't know, but it's the only way forward.
ReplyDeleteRight after the election I felt that Bernie would have won, but now I don't think so. What people want out of Trump is not what Bernie was offering.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if he pulled in all of the third party votes he could have won, but Bernie did horrible with the African American vote in the primary, losing 80% of it. It's hard to say how that would have played out in the general.
I don't know which ticks me off most- that Bernie was literally kneecapped by the Dems, or when people say that there was no other choice than Trump. Once again, lower middle class Whites voted against their own best interests, instead of voting for a... "Socialist" (aka- Jew). The same flag waving, uber patriotic Repub mindset who screamed, "Better dead than Red" in the '60s- enthusiastically voted for the number one fan of former KGB leader supreme, Vladimir Putin.
ReplyDeleteI read something last week that made me stop and think. If you think someone is voting against their best interest, then you don't know what their interest are.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteApologies for the flippant response...
DeleteLet's go by what Trump supporters themselves said. They said they wanted: more and better paying jobs, a more vigorous economy, improved infrastructure, and putting America and average Americans first and foremost. Those were all major components of Sanders campaign. So why did they vote for a billionaire who made a long career of stiffing working class stiffs every single chance he got? Why did they vote for a 5X deferment who has repeatedly put his personal fortune over any commitment to his country and his fellow citizens?
And the answer (as always, with a large section of the White American voter) is because of what many of them didn't say (although many more certainly did this time around). And that is, that they wanted someone who would make sure that Whites would continue to pull the strings in as many ways possible. Because this election once again proved- it ain't about Commies, political parties or any host of other politically expedient excuses... It's about their innate fear of losing power to people of color, or those who'll even listen to them.
Eight years of Obama was a primal slap in their face, "their" country is inevitably getting browner- and along comes the magic clown who (wink-wink) promises them the America of yesteryear, The Great White Hope who will banish and/or sublimate all the brown infidels in or out of this country by a wave of his indeterminately sized hands! And by golly gosh almighty (as Mr. Gorsusch might say), once again they have bequeathed themselves a President who repeatedly lied to their faces, promised them anything and everything they wanted to hear- and this time even in the very words they wanted to hear. All for their precious, soothing balm of White dominance.
Thus far, far from draining the swamp, Trump has loaded it with even more Wall St. execs and billionaires, and has triumphantly proven just how "easy" it is to make health care "bigger, better and cheaper for all."
Mexico is gonna pay every last penny needed to build that wall, coal will rebuild our economy and things are just gonna keep on getting better! And that's just a wee small peek of what it's like when certain people "vote against their best interest(s)."
Stan, you obviously have no idea about the best interests of Trump voters, nor do you seem to have any interest in learning about what they really might be. This was a racist screed by any definition, and it speaks volumes as to why white voters are fleeing the Democratic party. There's hate in what you wrote, and I'm grateful that your worldview has no political influence.
DeleteStrange times in our country, leaving everyone with their heads shaking in confusion. Being in SC, I live among many people from all socio-economic, political and religious stripes. All are good people. We've raised kids together, have celebrated milestones together, have mourned together. My life is richer because of all the people in my life. Not all are highly educated, but many are. Not all agree with the same thing I do, but that doesn't give me the right to call them names or dissolve friendships. I really dislike the tone of conversation across our country right now. It seems nobody is willing to listen to others if their beliefs are different and it's sad that courtesy towards others has come to this. One is never going to be able to convince everyone else to their way of thinking no matter how hard one tries.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what being "good" means. If we are all so good, how do we explain the wealth gap of 1:14 between Blacks and Whites? How do we explain the fact that Americans are consuming the equivalent of five Earths? How do we explain the animal holocaust we call "factory farming?" The list goes on. Could it be we are not so good? Could it be we are in denial, at a deep level? Might it be useful to re-think our moral process? Is what we see in politics not a symptom of moral failure?
DeleteWell I'm good because I respect people, volunteer when I can, love my family, and work hard. Lots of other people consider themselves good for similar reasons. I don't define my morality by any of your examples because I can't control any of that, and it's not particularly fair to hold others to such a standard.
DeleteIf none of this is in our control, how is it happening? Must I book a cruise, burning X number of barrels of oil I don't need to burn? Must I throw the gestation crate bacon into my shopping cart? Etc. Who is running this show, after all? Can hard work cover all our sins? Or, are we kidding ourselves? Maybe our present moral construct is obsolete, since it seems to fail us in finding our way toward a livable future.
DeleteI am amused that you believe the Democrats to be increasingly irrelevant. I am a conservative Independent who voted for Trump (due to there being no reasonable alternative to defeating Hillary), and I believe the REPUBLICANS are becoming increasingly irrelevant! Why? Well, here they are, large and in charge of the presidency and the Congress (and, soon, perhaps even the Supreme Court), and they will likely waste their moment, just as George W. Bush and his Republican Congress wasted theirs.
ReplyDeleteNow, I know that Democrats think it is about the worst thing in the world for abortion rights to be curtailed, but for Republicans and conservatives, it is something we strongly believe. But what happened when GWB and his Congress had the opportunity to actually do something about it? Nothing. At least nothing major.
Which is why I have come to believe that while there may be a few true believers in Congress, most of the Republicans are using abortion and other wedge issues to keep us voting for them...when, in truth, IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE!
They aren't going to change anything, for if they do, then that issue would be gone...and then Republicans would begin actually comparing economic plans, health care plans, and the such, instead of over-weighing abortion issues. And when that happens, it's not going to be as "easy" as it was before to get votes from conservative Christians, who may not have any real issue with many of the other things--outside of abortion and gay rights--that liberals/Democrats stand for.