That decision has consequences for how she’s seen by Sanders’s core supporters - they signed up for an idealistic struggle against the party establishment, and she played a cynical game of power politics. And when Sanders did step up, she didn’t back him - opting instead for a studied neutrality. Warren, pointedly, did not step up to challenge Clinton even when many party actors wanted her to. And if they had flipped and given support to him, rather than her, they would have paid a political price for it when Hillary inevitably became president.Īny mass political movement becomes, to an extent, self-referential. Because Clinton in the past fundraised for so many of these delegates, they felt an obligation to support her even when, as the author says, their politics were closer to Sanders’. The reason these super delegates are put in place is to thwart a populous candidate. Because of super delegates, that supported Clinton by an overwhelming majority during the primaries, Sanders basically had no chance of winning the Democratic nomination. When Bernie campaigned about a “rigged political system,” he was talking about money in politics. He wants to win.Įlected officials were almost uniformly afraid to endorse, even if their policy views were closer to his than to Clinton’s, and left-of-center think tanks - including ones that are deliberately positioned to the left of mainstream Democrats ideologically - shied away from working with Sanders on policy development, for fear that Clinton’s wrath would destroy them if they did. I lean about as politically far-left as exists in the United States, but I understand what Bernie is doing, and I don’t hate on him for it.
I believe many feel like the jig is up, that the charade should end, and Bernie Sanders should altogether abandon the Democrats and start his own party. His supporters weren’t happy that he endorsed Hillary Clinton last summer, and most found his recent Unity Tour with Tom Perez and the DNC to be a foolish, hopeless exercise. At the same time, he’s held on to a couple of signature issues - Medicare-for-all and tuition-free public college - that give him exactly the kind of clear-cut and broadly accessible agenda that mainstream Democrats lack.īernie is not perfect. In subtle ways has shifted his policy commitments to the center, making himself a more broadly acceptable figure in the party. Bernie is that person, which is why the media pumps out names like Booker and Gillibrand, or Harris and Biden: because they all have the same donors in common. All those who benefit from milking off the corporate tit have a funny way of not liking the candidate who wants to upset the money train. This is not to say that Bernie is being ignored by the people, but rather who the writer calls “the political class,” which represent current politicians and lobbyists and people who work on camera for MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, et. Sanders is the elephant in the room, and one can only ascend to Elephant In The Room status if they are being ignored. We could certainly clean this up - especially the bit about Bernie being the most popular politician “by some measures” it’s by literally every measure/poll - but I won’t hold it against him since he’s right about the main point. Bernie Sanders is, by some measures the most popular politician in America, by far Democrats’ most in-demand public speaker, and the most prolific grassroots fundraiser in American history.įinally a writer that is telling the truth. From the beginning:Īmid a swirl of speculation about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, and practically everyone else under the sun as potential Democratic presidential contenders, most of the political class is ignoring the elephant in the room. There is an article on Vox titled Bernie Sanders is the Democrats’ real 2020 frontrunner, so let’s dive into it.
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