[It] is about "the many ways President Obama has failed to live up to either his promises or his progressive potential...Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs tried to soften the message with this:
"What Senator Sanders said in that book blurb is absolutely true," Briggs said. "The next president must do everything possible to reinvigorate American democracy and get working people to stand up for their interests. This country, under the outstanding leadership of President Obama and Vice President Biden, has come a very long way since President Bush left office."
Briggs added, "The next president can try to achieve bold proposals because of the foundation they put in place. Obviously, telling someone to read a book doesn't mean you agree with everything that's in the book."This is a dilemma for the Sanders campaign. On the one hand, his position has been that on things like health care and Wall Street reform, President Obama's positions have been weak tea with an implication that they were influenced by big money interests. And with campaign surrogates like Cornel West - who have viciously attacked the President - that idea is reinforced. On the other hand, that message alienates a lot of Democrats - especially African Americans, who are extremely supportive of President Obama.
Kim Phillips-Fein suggests that Bernie Sanders should just embrace the difference.
Clinton really is the one carrying on Obama’s legacy - and it’s a legacy of which Sanders should want no part.
How can Sanders frame himself as Obama’s heir? And why would he want to? After all, his campaign is premised on responding to the crisis of the middle class in an era of skyrocketing inequality - a problem that has only deepened over the past eight years.
In terms of policy, his campaign proposals reflect a genuine departure. His promise to make health insurance truly universal and his commitment to a system of free public higher education represent attempts to remove these building blocks of economic security from the vagaries of the marketplace. True, Obama vetoed the Keystone pipeline, but Sanders envisions a major public investment in green infrastructure going well beyond anything seriously advanced by the president...
For the first-time voters who flocked to the polls that year, inspired by a candidate who spoke of lasting changes, the past eight years have been ones of political disappointment.Interestingly enough, here is someone who agrees with that advice:
Sanders closing with Cornel West and embracing idea of Buyer's Remorse with @POTUS. Be honest then Senator - run firmly against Obama record
— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) January 31, 2016
Hearing the same advice from Obama's former campaign manager and someone who is disappointed in the President pretty much captures why this is a dilemma for the Sanders campaign.
And of course, there is the small problem that Bernie will be capable of no more than Obama achieved, and most likely far less (between the state of Congress and the likelihood that Bernie will alienate even Democrats in Congress). So I anticipate Bernie's griping about Obama will look pretty ridiculous in a year or two.
ReplyDeleteI recently realized that the stages of grief (Denial / Anger / Bargaining / Depression / Acceptance) also work when you discover your political messiah can't deliver, except that the last stage is better described as "Apathy". That's why I don't see much value in any surge of enthusiasm among Bernie supporters, they're going to return to Apathy as soon as they don't get single payer and free tuition by September 2018.
Wow. Bernie is sort of turning out to be the Ted Cruz of the left, isn't he.
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ReplyDeleteIf you're disappointed in Http://pleasecutthecrap.com/obama-accomplishments
ReplyDeleteYou're an idiot .
I have occasionally directed people to this blog to see the list of things Obama has done for the Native American people. I point that out because they're arguably the only people more mistreated in this country than blacks, this is a people that give Obama no political advantage, and still Obama is bending over backwards to make things right with them. It's pretty powerful evidence that Obama is motivated by good will to his fellow man.
DeleteIt's something that seems to escape the Sanders campaign. The Democratic nominee is going to have to run on the record of President Obama in the general election. All the times that Bernie Sanders has trashed that record in the primary is going to haunt as his own words can be used against him. And no amount of whining and complaining about unfair things are is going to change that.
ReplyDeleteNot seeing this as a big deal. No secret that sanders is left of Obama. Yes, Obama got things moving in right direction. Bernie want to take it up a few notches. Its a fight either way with a obstructionist congress, there is no compromising, may as well aim for the fence. #bernie2016
ReplyDeleteHis campaign sloganeering is like a broken record revolution break up the big banks,revolution,break up the big banks. Its getting old quick.
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