Clinton Supporters: how do you understand the Sanders phenomenon

[Proud Public Servant]

Last edited Tue Feb 2, 2016, 11:36 AM - Edit history (1)

This is an honest question; I'm a Bernie supporter who will happily support Hillary is she's our nominee.

Ot seems clear that Bernie is neither a flash-in-the-pan like Howard Dean, nor a gadfly like Kucinich. Given that, I'm curious to hear how you undetstand his success to date. Is it that his ideas genuinely have broad support in the party? Is it just (as right-wingers maintain) the promise of "free stuff"? Is it less about him than about rejecting Hillary (I.e., the anybody-but-Hillary vote)? Is it just that she's a bad campaigner?

Don't care at all what the haters think, but as a political junkie I'm genuinely curious to know what folks in Hillary's corner make of this. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful response.

[beachbum bob]

1. I have been around a long time and seen this before

bernie is a good man but like the demographics of the vote in Iowa...the majority of female voters voted for hillary...bernie brings the discussions to forefront that need to be discussed but he can not win a national election when the conservative machine takes him on....the attraction of idealists doesn't win elections....I am an Obama supporter thats been in his camp since he was a state senator in Illinois and worked on his Senate and presidential campaigns....after these first few small state primaries are over, its done for bernie but good lord we need the discussions to clearly show the differences between batshit crazy conservatives and democrats/progressive/liberals......if we get off our asses and vote...the GOP is done with..

[DCBob]

2. Here's my take..

Many are angry and rightly so. There are tons of problems and the system appears broken and its easy to blame those in power like the "establishment" Democrats. I just think the anger is misplaced. The problems are deep and complex and I dont think it's fair to blame the Democratic party or Hillary or President Obama. In fact I believe they are our best allies in fighting against these problems. Bernie Sanders has some good ideas but I think he's not the right person to lead the charge. I have my doubts he could even win and even if he did he could make things alot worse. Hillary is our best bet at this moment in time.

[zalinda]

4. When you really look at it the problem

does lie with the establishment, just look who Obama put in power to make decisions over our lives. Obama was the great 'hope and change' President, but the people he surrounded himself with told a very different story. He did not appoint one lefty, to anything, although he did keep a few Republicans around.

Would things have worked out differently if he had chosen different advisers, we'll never know, but appearances speak volumes.

Z

[Proud Public Servant]

5. Which would make supporting Bernie a form of venting

And I suppose that makes sense. But when he's drawing the support of 1/3-1/2 of the Party itself, it seems to me that indicates some deep dissatisfaction indeed, as well as skepticism over whether Hillary (or any estabishment pol) can address it.

It would have been interesting to have see whether a more mainstream figure who is (nearly) as progressive as Bernie -- Sherrod Brown comes to mind -- would have been similarly successful this year.

[Armstead]

8. You are correct that the problems are complex. But I blame the Democrats for incremental failure...

The problem with problems is that they accumulate in steps. Either you see those steps and address them as they arise, or manageable smaller problems become huge and embedded and unmanageable.

For at least 35 years, there has been a process and series of problems that developed and were not dealt with as they arose. The most blatant example is financial consolidation, with the economy being swallowed by a handful of massive megabanks. They have grown to the point where they are "too big to fail" and regulations have become so lax as to be impotent. Result: 2008, and a hollowing out of the middle class and small business.

This did not happen overnight, nor was it a force of nature. The global economy has become complex, but we never put in place rules to actually protect the American economy. Just the opposite. We threw open the doors and threw out out ability to control anything.

The GOP is expected to support and help this along. But the Democrats -- especially the Clinton Corporate Wing -- also enabled it. They either kept silent and let the GOP do their dirty work, or they actively collaborated.

BUT all along there were people like Sanders who warned about the steps as they were being considered. They tried to stop the small destructive steps, and proposed solutions to problems. Who predicted the ultimate results -- and who were unfortunately proven to be correct.

But those who saw were basically told to sit down and shut up, and they were dismissed as "fringe."

Welll things are becoming so bad that the cumulative results have become obvious to everyone. But there is still that reflexive support of the rotting process by the Democratic establishment.

Sanders popularity SHOULD be a wake up Call to the Democrats. Instead of resisting solutions yet again.

[bbgrunt]

9. +100

[Proud Public Servant]

10. Well said. Reminds me of something I read 30 years ago

During the S&L crisis. Someone (I wish I could remember who) wrote: this is a bipartisan crisis, but not because the two parties agree. For the GOP, savings and loan deregulation was a matter of ideology. For the Dems, savings and loan deregulation was a matter of being too feckless and cowardly to stop it.

That's the story of the last three decades, right there.

[Tarc]

3. I do not hate Sanders

but that tiny, tiny subset of his supporters (which you do not appear to be one of, so that's good ) that is so nasty and smug about everything involved in this race are a huge turnoff for me. I do believe that some...emphasis on some...of his support comes from millennial-aged "Bros" who are opposed to Hillary based on her gender, but most of it reflects the divide currently found in our party on how liberal/progressive to be.

Iowa was a good showing for both, he will take NH, probably easily. Maybe even the NV caucus as well, but starting with SC it will be a simple case of math, just as it was for Hillary herself in 2008.

I like Bernie personally, agree with him on a lot of issues but have been a Clinton (both of them) supporter for years. If he somehow pulls this thing out I'll gladly vote for him in the fall.

[Proud Public Servant]

6. Don't getme started on Bernie bros

My daughter, a feminist who works (and tweets) for a group that has endorsed Hillary, has actually received rape threats from Bernie bros. They make me sick.

[DanTex]

7. I think he's making an unabashedly progressive case in a way that a lot of Democrats have been

yearning for for a very long time. He's more liberal than Dean, and he's much more of a political force than Kucinich ever was. I think his ideas are great, and I think he's great. I disagree with his supporters about his electability.

I am disappointed that some Bernie supporters online have lashed out at people like Krugman, Al Franken, etc. for either saying good things about Clinton or criticizing Bernie. I think they are too quick to label anyone with legitimate disagreements about either policy or electability as establishment sellouts.