I have concerns about the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. They do not have anything to do with his competency; I think his campaign, to date. has proven his bona fides in that regard. To a lesser degree he has proven his ability to get his message across to a large group of the electorate.
No, my concerns aren't about Bernie but they are about the Democrats that could elect him to the Presidency. We could see a repeat of what happened to the Obama Presidency, with crowds of people voting for him in the Presidential election but who sat on heir hands, in the off years, allowing the Republicans to not only win majorities in both Houses and obstruct Obama that much more but also win statehouses so they could restrict that part of the electorate that constituted the Democratic support.
As Bernie says, he wants and needs a political revolution to accomplish what he wants to do, and I just doubt that he can ever get one with the Democratic electorate as presently constituted. After all, if ever there was an opportunity, it was at the time immediately after the economy tanked in 2009. When the going got tough, with Republican obstruction, the Democrats jumped ship in 2010. A political revolution, in good economic times, like now, is probably a bridge too far for Democrats.
Precisely the context of my recent response to "Of Bumper Stickers and Demons." We have not hit enough bottom to foment a socially revolutionary reaction. Our country's comfort tolerance is in the status quo. And, amongst sharks, devouring the competition is the sport.
ReplyDeleteWhat both Herb and Susanna seem to be ignoring is that if Bernie is nominated over Hillary, that means that more of the electorate are behind him regardless of platform differences. Current national polls show Hillary at 44% and Bernie at 42%, and there's a lot of campaigning left.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in "Of Bumper Stickers and Demons", if Bernie wins the nomination, that other progressives could win some of the congressional seats up for election (34 Senate seats, all 435 House of Rep. seats). If only Democrats who won't back a Democratic president remain in Congress, whether it's Bernie or Hillary will be of little consequence.
As for Susanna's comment that "Our country's comfort tolerance is in status quo.", how do you explain the electorate's reaction to Trump ... status quo? I think not ... they are fed up with government status quo.
Not sure if these are really "good economic times". I'm not willing to bet yet on Bernie, but certainly will be seeing what happens in the next few primary states and be looking at what is happening in terms of House and Senate candidates as well. What I keep hoping is that people (particularly the poor) will stop voting against their own interests.
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