And the voice of the Third Wayer is heard in the land: "Hillary Clinton shouldn’t move to the left"
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/04/25/sanders-more-dangerous-loser-than-winner/zSqhAPsl0xP8aDmxJh4i0H/story.html#commentsHillary Clinton shouldnt move to the left
Bernie Sanders may no longer be a serious threat to Hillary Clintons nomination bid, but he and his supporters could still wreak havoc on the Democratic Party this fall. Had Sanders won the nomination, he would likely have been demolished in the general election, as were liberals Michael Dukakis and George McGovern. The difference is Sanders is much further from the partys center than those two candidates were. Sanders far-left followers would have been marginalized because the Democrats can win only as centrist liberals, not as far-left radicals. But now that Sanders appears to have lost the nomination, his power and that of his supporters, will likely increase Clinton needs people who feel the Bern to sign on to her cause. That will empower not only the real progressives who have been supporting Sanders, but also the repressives who falsely hide their true anti-liberal views under the ill-fitting cloak of progressivism. These repressives have little tolerance for differing viewpoints and seek to shut down speakers who refuse to toe their politically correct line.
Clinton would be smart to resist the temptation to move to the left once she has secured the Democratic nomination. Despite her refusal to use the label liberal, thats in fact what she is: a centrist liberal who rejects revolution and the radical dismantling of imperfect institutions, such as Obama health care. Like her husband, she should stay in the liberal center, both on domestic and foreign policy issues. That has always been the winning strategy for Democrats, and the Sanders brush-fire should not change that successful approach.
If Clinton feels the need to move to the far left, she may succeed in the short run in keeping some Sanders supporters from staying home on Election Day, but she will risk alienating centrist, independent, and undecided voters, who determine the outcome of most national elections. In any event, it is likely that most Sanders supporters will come out and vote for Clinton, though some who want to shake up the system may support Trump. Far-left zealots, who hate liberals even more than they hate conservatives, may stay home, but their numbers are relatively small, despite the loud noises they emit. Moreover, there is nothing Clinton could do to satisfy the far-left repressives who want to overthrow existing institutions and suppress speech they deem incorrect. These intolerant extremists reject the politics of respectability that demands that respect be accorded even to those with whom they disagree.
It is important to understand that the differences between Clinton and far-left Sanderite repressives are not merely matters of degree on many important issues. They are matters of kind. Clinton wants realistic improvements in existing institutions, such as health care, capital markets, banking, the military, our education system, and other structures. Sanders and his far-left followers want revolutionary dismantling of these and other existing institutions. His most radical supporters want even more revolutionary structural changes that would destabilize and weaken our nation. Its not that Sanders is an idealist whose ideas are good but unrealistic, and Clinton a pragmatist whose ideas are compromised with Sanders ideals. Clinton is right and Sanders is wrong on many key issues over which they disagree. And Clinton should stick to her guns.
Hmm, partisan hack with an added personal grudge against Sanders, or just another Sensible Woodchuck?
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)for Sanders. They didn't. He's lost with wider margins than center-left Hillary had lost in 2008 from "centrist" Barack Obama. As we all know, Senator Obama won the primaries then the 2008 G.E. with 52.9% against McCain and 51.1% against Romney in 2012.
So no. No moving to the left. That would be a disastrous move and it will only guarantee the Democratic Party will lose against the Republican Party on all levels.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...primary voters who would sit on their hands in the GE?
Mind you, I'm not saying that they would- I honestly think most would be like me and
hold their noses while voting for Hillary- but it's something to think about...
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)There isn't much 'middle' for Hillary to woo. If Independants liked The Third Way, they'd be registered Democrats. She and her campaign have already pissed off the left, and the right hates her even more than the left. She's triangulating herself into a tiny corner. The Rrpublicans will eventually fall in line to vote against her, even if they have to vote for Trump. And Trump will position himself to the left of Hillary on a few populist issues, and pick up most Independants. Obama built a coalition...even if he disappointed the left on several issues, he didn't go out of his way to piss us off (although Rahm did). Hillary is not a uniter, she's not building a coalition (she's in fact doing the opposite), she's tone deaf, and living in a Wall St/DC bubble completely oblivious to the concerns of a great number of voters.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)His style is just as turgid as always, but what I notice is that he ignores Trump, it's Sanders he is after. So yeah, partisan hack.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)Third Way views the left as the enemy, not Republicans.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)djean111
(14,255 posts)move to the left. So there's that.
She has moved the party too far to the right for me, though, so I will be leaving.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Cassiopeia
(2,603 posts)Bernie and his mean supporters. It's all their fault!
zalinda
(5,621 posts)It doesn't matter that almost half the country hate her and another 25% doesn't trust her, she's going to be President, no matter who she steps on, even the American people.
Z
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)C'mon now, seriously....
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)the new deal and all of LBJ programs are going to be destroyed or sold to her sleazy financial backers. The war drums will be fired up in earnest too. Oh, and about that $12 minimum wage?
No worries, Alan