Bernie Sanders is a true blue American political hero. He is the best, most New Deal loyal Democrat we have, and it says much for the current state of the party that he is not even a Democrat. Now we are hearing talk that he is interested in making a run at the White House..
Thing is a lot of really think they are smart people are saying that he can't win. To those people, I would say that they are missing a larger point-can his values win? Yes. Unequivocally. We saw that in the recent midterms, that progressive agendas absolutely rocked it at the polls, even with a Republican leaning electorate.
The idea that he would get into it to pull Hillary, or whoever the nominee turns out to be, to the left is intriguing but does not give me great enthusiasm. Sure he could run, and garner enough support to pull her to the left rhetorically, but what do we win with a HRC presidency? Truthfully, probably one term. The reason other than party fatigue, is the fact that if she were to stay true to her triangulating nature, the one group of voters that I fear most, what Pew calls the disaffecteds, would grow and become even more enraged and easy prey for a Siren's song.
The Rand Pauls of the world are very dangerous, because essentially what he is selling is while you can forget better jobs, and a pension, he will at least let you smoke your bong and get us out of war. So he says. He is also slimy, has a racist past, and is very disingenuous.
But saying we get that one term, what do we get? Action on climate change? A minimum wage increase? Tax reforms? What we get is largely dependent on what she takes into office with her in the way of coattails. If history is any indicator, not much, at least judging by Clintonian playbook standards. So we have a center-far right congress and a moderate at best President, while Florida gets closer to drowning and income inequality moves to staggering disparity.
I view her as a band-aid, as a better than the other guy by a little candidate, not a savior, not a progressive firebrand. And so what IF Bernie? The closest ideological comparison I can make is to VP Mondale and I could be wrong so Kos Vets let me know, but saying that is appropriate, let's take a look at exit polling, 1984, or as I like to call it, Red Spawn.
First off, this notion of winning white voters in the 30s is not a new thing, as Mondale only carried 34 percent. But let us tally the numbers as is, only call the electorate 70 percent white this time-
Hispanics 66 percent, AAs 91 percent, and Asians say 70, nets Bernie about 46.5 percent. That would be a wipeout. However, young whites in this era are less conservative, so let's give him Obama's number, 39, plus add a point for being white, (sorry it is true) and that gets him to 51, probably a win. But this is A., hoping the electorate is more diverse and B., assuming white voters have not completely lost their minds at that point.
Let's look at the so called negatives-He would be 75 at election. So what, we need the senior vote back.
HD would not be kind to him. Nor would it be kind to many grizzled blue collar voters judging him, at this point probably too desperate to treat the election like a beauty pageant.
He is a Socialist. Duh. That is what we are shooting for, isn't it? Scandinavian style mixed socialism, where everyone gets something, and contributes to the highest standard of living in the world? Look we have to make the full-throated argument sometime, so if not now then when?
He could split the party-well half of our voters are asleep now anyway, so at least there would be some passion again.
So can he win? Sure he could. But what else could he do if even he lost? Well, it is noted among political historians that Barry Goldwater's ill-fated campaign laid the groundwork for a grass roots ideological shift that culminated in the Reagan era.
Goldwater's campaign is said to have put the conservative wing in full charge of the party, and the Democrats desperately need to replicate this from the left. Without an ideological line in the sand, the party stands on the verge of being swallowed by libertarian leaning independents who will have no use for nanny stating and no populism to vote for.
A Sanders nomination does not guarantee a win, but would guarantee a tectonic shift in the party platform, guaranteed to strengthen and find a growing voice, and ultimately, its own Reagan to lead the charge back towards income equality. I liken the party to a mediocre team who is good enough to make the playoffs, but needs a management change to really make a run at the Super Bowl.
Yes this could mean a rebuild, and losses, but with good drafting and smart signings, a club could find itself on top in relatively short order. But you might be reading this and thinking, well wait, "Isn't winning the White House winning the Super Bowl?" No. That is just a chance to play in it.
We win the Super Bowl of politics when the Soup Bowls of the middle class and ALL classes are full.
It took Goldwater 16 years for his impact to be truly felt, but eventually it would be felt for nearly 40 years. Sanders, or a voice like his, be it Dean, or Warren, or Feingold, is indicative of the new "GM" we need to really start winning on the political football field.
I personally, am sick of kicking field goals in the continual struggle to defeat the Elephants. This Donkey wants to kick some pachyderm ass. First we hire the GM, (nominee) then the coach (House leader) then we can get the playmakers onto the field for some real scoring. It may take some time, but eventually we will win.
And who are the playmakers? The ones currently stuck on the bench.
Us.