Ezra Klein Podcast: "Why Bernie Sanders lost and how progressives can still win."

[Yavin4]

I'm not posting this to spike the football on Bernie. I am posting this as a Progressive and budding Data Scientist. These points are taken from a podcast between Ezra Klein (Vox) and Sean McElwee, the co-founder and executive director of Data for Progress, an organization that utilizes cutting-edge polling and data-analysis techniques to support progressive causes. His aim is to fashion an agenda that is both progressive and popular.

The full conversation is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-bernie-sanders-lost-and-how-progressives-can-still-win/id1081584611?i=1000471626246

It's perhaps the best political analysis that I've heard so from anyone.

Key takeaways:

It is extremely difficult to significantly change the composition of the electorate via an inspiring campaign or a killer field operation. It has been tried many, many times and almost always ends in failure.

There is a way to change the composition of the electorate: by changing laws. Legal and structural reform that focuses on a) making it easier to vote (e.g. automatic voter registration) or b) giving people something valuable to protect (e.g. Medicaid expansion) works.

Incremental legislative victories are an important though often overlooked way of shifting public opinion. In order to pass a major, structural change like Medicare-for-all, you need to prove your theory of the case to voters who are skeptical of change by showing that smaller, incremental changes like Medicaid expansion or lowering prescription drug costs can pass and work when implemented. Those smaller victories are like an investment in the future — they build public confidence in reform that can be cashed in for bigger reform later.

[frazzled]

1. And that is precisely why he didn't win

Because he refuses to accept (and generally votes against) incremental changes, such as the ones mentioned. It's all or nothing, revolution or bust. And these incremental changes are precisely the ones that the more "moderate" candidates have been working on and proposing all along.

This is not a big insight. It's kind of "duh."

[JI7]

2. Considering he hasn't accomplished much, their incremental

changes have been faster than anything he has yet to do .

[Yavin4]

4. Another big takeaway

"Running on a maximalist policy agenda creates a massive expectation gap between what you can achieve and what you say you can achieve. When you promise something and deliver, you build power. When you promise something and bring home half or a quarter, you deflate hope and create cynicism."

Bernie got trounced twice by African American voters who are well aware of the limitations of govt. We know about incremental change. The Civil and Voting rights laws themselves are examples of incremental change. They didn't do away with racism and racial discrimination. All those laws did was prevent government from overtly practicing racial discrimination. We're still working on eradicating all forms of discrimination.

[LizBeth]

3. Sanders lost because of the candidate. Warren without Sanders in the race could have done it.

[katmondoo]

5. Sanders just about turned me against progressives and before him I considered myself one of them.

[LizBeth]

8. Right.

[blm]

9. I am certain of that. Instead his inner circle of vipers smeared her

relentlessly BECAUSE she was the real deal for progressive Dems.

[LizBeth]

11. +1

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Duh. This is what a lot of us were shouting from the rooftops about.

"It is extremely difficult to significantly change the composition of the electorate via an inspiring campaign or a killer field operation. It has been tried many, many times and almost always ends in failure." No shit. And more often than not this is because the people who are inspired by the inspiring campaign and the killer field operation don't understand the processes of government and often don't even vote. They're so excited about the inspiring campaign that they don't see that inspiration and $2 gets you a skim latte at Starbucks. The only progress we've ever made has been through incremental measures. That's how it works. If you don't get that you don't belong in politics.

[ismnotwasm]

7. I was always frustrated with the lack of attention to structural changes

Especially in healthcare. The nuts and bolts as it were. Mostly boring policy stuff.

And incremental changes is the only way universal healthcare is going to happen. People wanted a New Deal response and refused to recognize not only entirely different circumstances, but that half the country is going around screaming for “smaller government”

We need to get rid of Trump, take the senate, keep the house, revive the economy then, if the ACA isn’t totally dead by then, resurrect it, add a public option, discuss HOW and WHO and WHERE we will be providing healthcare for the entire fucking country because that’s always been a problem that was rarely addressed.


Hillary losing was a humanitarian disaster that was costing lives before covid and I will always be salty about it.

[LizBeth]

10. +1