Bernie Doubles Down on Obama Criticism

[bigtree]

Jesse Ferguson ?@JesseFFerguson 25m25 minutes ago
Same time as Cong Black Caucus endorses Clinton, Sanders AGAIN criticizes Obama. http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/sanders-obama-hasn-t-closed-presidential-leadership-gap-n516586 …


NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Bernie Sanders says the aim of his political revolution is to bring more people into the political process than President Barack Obama, arguing that he can close a presidential leadership gap that's persisted over the eight years of the Obama administration.

"There's a huge gap right now between Congress and the American people. What presidential leadership is about closing that gap," he told MSNBC in an interview Wednesday that will air in full Thursday evening on "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell."

Asked if he believed President Obama had closed that gap, Sanders said: "No, I don't. I mean, I think he has made the effort. But I think what we need, when I talk about a political revolution, is bringing millions and millions of people into the political process in a way that does not exist right now."

Sanders said his strategy for pushing through an ambitious agenda that includes single payer health care and free college tuition would involve mobilizing thousands of people who don't currently participate in the political process — though he did acknowledge that the president turned out more voters, particularly minorities, than ever before.

His remarks come as the Democratic primary turns toward more diverse states like Nevada, with a large Latino population, and particularly South Carolina, where black voters are a majority of the primary electorate. Hillary Clinton has criticized Sanders in the past for being critical of the nation's first African American president. Sanders "criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street. Sen. Sanders called Obama weak, disappointing. He even in 2011 publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama," Clinton told an audience in Charleston, S.C., earlier this month.


read: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/sanders-obama-hasn-t-closed-presidential-leadership-gap-n516586


If record voter participation by disaffected Americans fed up with politics as usual represents a political revolution, the primary contest in 2008 between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would appear to be the hallmark of a revolutionary campaign. Record numbers voted in that Democratic primary:

Wiki: Voter turnout on Super Tuesday was at 27% of eligible citizens, breaking the previous record of 25.9% set in 1972. Turnout was higher among Democrats than Republicans, with Democratic turnout surpassing Republican turnout even in traditionally red states where the number of registered Democrats is proportionally low. Many states reported high levels of Democratic voter registration in the weeks before primaries.From January 3 through February 5, Democratic turnout exceeded Republican turnout, 19.1 million to 13.1 million.

Indeed, President Obama took full advantage of social media during his presidency, and his political team has worked throughout to advantage their political agenda of the unprecedented network of supporters they'd generated, beginning with the record support he received in his campaign.

[guillaumeb]

1. There are two issues here:

The first,
then candidate Barack Obama mobilized huge numbers of people during his campaign. That was a tremendous accomplishment. He motivated millions of new voters. Both great things. But then we come to the real criticism that Sanders is making.

The second,
After the election, what did the President do with this database of newly energized voters? Nothing. The organization existed solely to work for the election of a President. There was no attempt, or minimal attempt, to transform this electoral organization into a force for change. The former community organizer should have known that an organization must have a long range purpose as well as short term goals.

[TCJ70]

2. That's it exactly...

...it was also the point of his quote on the Bill Press book. Get involved, stay involved, change things for the better.

[jberryhill]

3. Yep

I was led to believe, or at least led to hope, that the organizational structure that was built during the election was going to be utilized as a mechanism for sustained political engagement in order to advance an agenda.

"There was no attempt, or minimal attempt, to transform this electoral organization into a force for change."

I'd love to know why it wasn't.

[guillaumeb]

4. As to the "why" of this issue,

perhaps the President was unprepared for the extent of the racism and obstructionism that the GOP would use to prevent literally anything from being accomplished. But if he was unprepared, the example of the Clinton Presidency should have been a forewarning.

The default GOP position, and it has been so since William Clinton was President, is obstructionism. GOP Congresses have been willing to accomplish nothing for years. They hold endless hearings, about Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, Benghazi, "travelgate", to give the illusion of progress.

[bigtree]

5. he actually did utilize it for policy

...with the HCA and myriad other initiatives.

I'd have to spend some time looking for the articles, but there was a great deal more done with their technology to energize and mobilize supporters than you suggest. Sanders will really be challenged to, essentially, build on the ground Obama's tech teams revolutionized.

[guillaumeb]

10. He could have used it better. And he underestimated the opposition.

As I said upthread, given the example of GOP obstructionism directed at William Clinton, the President and his team should have realized what was to come. Even if not in the first few days, after a short time the filibustering and racist language was a huge warning sign.

What the GOP did in creating the Tea Party should have been done with the "Obama Nation" people. Imagine thousands, millions of protesters talking about GOP obstructionism. Imagine the Press Secretary calling out the GOP for working 3 days a week. Instead of looking for supposed common ground, imagine actually proposing Medicare for all and mobilizing the "Obama Nation" to protest, and call their Congressional members, and make noise.

From the media coverage already evident, it is obvious that Sanders does realize that it will take a revolution to accomplish his goals. He must continue to make the case to his supporters that winning an election is only the first step.

[TwilightGardener]

21. Obama was not a party-builder kind of guy. That's just not who he was.

But I think he had enough on his plate just dealing with constant obstruction, so I don't fault him too much.

[SheenaR]

6. Has he closed the gap?

No he has not.

Is he supposed to lie because he is running as a Democrat?

We all hoped for more from 2008 Obama. I love the man. The answer to the question is correct.

[AgingAmerican]

7. So what?

Obama doesn't walk on water. His deals with the GOP damaged the country. The 'unthinkable' things that were implimented in the sequestration deal did not go away.

He has done many, many wonderful things, but his deals with Boehner and the GOP were and are POO.

[SunSeeker]

8. How is Sanders going to close that "gap"?

He certainly did not bring out as many young voters nor as many first time voters as Obama did. And the number of voters in the Dem primaries in both Iowa and New Hampshire is down from 2008.

[Lans]

13. Right, Obama was the only reason for the record turnout

not 8 years of Bush. The more you downplay what an absolute debacle Bush years were, the war in Iraq, the financial meltdown that lead to the biggest transfer of wealth since the great depression, or how about the draconian NSA surveillance which Dubaya enacted under his presidency.

8 years of Obama after Bush is not going to lead to record turnout for Dems, Bernie and Hills keeping it as high as it is right now is actually fairly impressive.

[SunSeeker]

15. LOL. Bush brought record youth and first timers to the polls, not Obama?

That is some kind of spin!

[Lans]

19. Right imagine 8 years of Bush not leading to record turnout among democrats

Also Bernie is doing pretty good so far

NH
2016 Sanders - 151k
2000 McCain - 115k
2008 Clinton - 112k
2016 Trump - 100k
2012 Romney - 97k

We won't know the numbers for Iowa for months since the DNC is so backwards, but I tend to think Bernie won the popular vote by a pretty big margin.

[SunSeeker]

24. Your refusal to give Obama any credit is duly noted. nt

[Blue_Adept]

9. You can lead a horse to water...

but hoping to involve the electorate beyond the four voting?

That's not going to happen until you transform HOW we vote.

The structure as set now is based on how things were centuries ago. Once an election is over, people go back to their lives while the power players deal their deals. There's nothing for your average person to get involved in beyond perhaps signing a few pointless petitions.

Voting and political engagement has to change through technology to do it, but that won't happen anytime soon.

[guillaumeb]

12. Excellent points.

Are people apathetic because they feel voting is useless?

Or is voting useless because people are apathetic?

Low turnout generally favors the GOP.

[Blue_Adept]

16. A combination to be sure

I know far too many people that just don't bother beyond the 4 year elections simply because, from their point of view, none of it really impacts them. Most of the changes that happen really are gradual ones or very targeted ones that the majority doesn't feel impact them, so they don't see it and the need to be involved.

But this goes beyond the election cycle and Sanders is talking about post-election involvement.

And that is a bit easier to solve, but requires the leadership to actual listen to their constituents.

The most basic idea is that if you're a registered dem, you have access to the party leadership through basic yay/nay aspects. What I mean is that as the various platforms and pushes come through from the president, such as healthcare, foreign policy, so forth, it goes through committee as normal but also has it available after certain points (you don't want everyone involved in the sausage making) where it's up for review for the actual members of the party.

So, say on the 15th of the month, dem party members get notification of a vote coming up on project x. Sign in to your account, give it a yay or nay, and then publish the results live. That doesn't mean leadership is beholden to it, but they're far more aware of what the constituents think.

It's an app on your phone, a site you log into, etc. If you think you can be an actual part of it and influence it, it'll get people involved. And, because it's publishing results, it'll get the news orgs to take greater interest in individual laws and pushes that come through because it's a horse race.

[guillaumeb]

17. The concept is good, but do politicians really want to know what voters think?

Especially if voters' preferences are at odds with donors' preferences. The ideal example is the ALEC model, wherein ALEC literally writes the legislation and hands it to a compliant legislator for passage.

The TPP is another example, where the lobbyists wrote legislation that no one could view prior to official consideration. Yes, I know that Congress members could look at the outlined legislation, but with no capacity for copying or disseminating the legislation.

In both my examples, the voters have zero input. The only input comes from moneyed interests. The same moneyed interests that give jobs to ex-Congress members.

[Blue_Adept]

18. Again, it's why I said it's a leadership problem

But this is the kind of political revolution that Sanders really needs, because unless you find a way to keep people actively involved in the same way that they'll answer Facebook polls, you won't achieve it.

[Lans]

11. Such a savage "attack"

I don't know how Obama sleeps at night after such scathing criticism

[bigtree]

14. some folks might care

...you? Not so much.

Noted.

[firebrand80]

20. Go Bernie! nt

[workinclasszero]

22. Keep running your mouth BS

Double and triple down on your smears against the President.

Lets see how that plays in states that aren't lily white like Iowa and NH!

[Timishini]

23. Kick