What worries me about Sanders in the general (through absolutely no fault of his own).
He's someone who is honest about who he is, and he'll inevitably be facing someone from the Republicans who is most certainly not honest about who he is.
Sanders has identified himself front and center, no bones about it, as a Democratic Socialist. And that's perfectly great, and admirable, and refreshingly honest. And we here at DU know that such a label isn't a bad thing, that there's nothing to be afraid of in regards to Democratic Socialists, that Democratic Socialists love freedom and democracy just as much as everyone else in civilized society and have absolutely no desire to drive us down to some sort of hardline authoritarian Soviet-esqe route.
That's all common knowledge. At least it is here, in the little bubble we call DU.
Here's the problem though. Whomever the Republicans end up nominating, they aren't going to be anywhere nearly as truthful as to their own personal ideologies.
Right now, the current Republican front runner, even more than being an ideologue, is a proto-fascist. He's a proto-fascist with a huge (or YUGE) narcissistic ego disorder who's able to warp minds without putting forth barely any effort in terms of ideas, which makes him incredibly dangerous, far more dangerous than most people want to admit.
But he's not going to come out and admit he's a proto-fascist. If he did that, chances are very high and likely that he'd lose pretty badly.
So if Sanders gets nominated and Trump gets nominated, it will be Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialist, versus Donald Trump, the guy who says he wants to "Make America Great Again", who's favorite book is the Bible, who's self-funding his campaign so he's not controlled by special interests, and so forth.
And inside the DU Bubble, it's still a no-brainer because we all know Donald Trump is completely and utterly full of shit. But we're dealing with an American Electorate who the vast majority does not live in the DU Bubble. And when they hear "Democratic Socialist", a good chunk of them are not going to think of Sweden or Norway. They're going to think he'll somehow be calling us to pay homage to Lenin and Stalin. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it's a reality that we have to deal with.
And they might disliked Donald Trump and his ego and his reality show image, but so long as Trump doesn't come out and admit he's a proto-fascist, they'd still prefer him over the "Democratic Socialist" because of the warped view of what they think that means, and since the other guy likes to talk about America being great and stuff, they'll go with him. It's sad and depressing, but I think an inconvenient truth.
The same goes for everyone else that the Republicans might nominate. Ted Cruz won't admit he's a theocrat. The other Republicans won't admit they're Corporatists. They're just going to play the same old game that they've been playing for years--that they just love America, they're patriots, yada yada yada. And it sounds shallow, but there's a very sizable chunk of the population that will believe it and buy into that false image over someone who's honest about who he is.
I don't like that fact--I actually hate it, because I'm all for being true to one's self. And whenever I take the "Which Candidate do you agree with most" quiz, inevitably I always end up with Senator Sanders. But I fear he'd face an extremely difficult uphill battle because of people's perceptions of what "Democratic Socialist" means combined with the inherent dishonesty of the right.
Not that I don't think Hillary Clinton's not going to have her own issues to deal with. Her name can be polarizing, she's not ideologically ideal to the DU Bubble, and you know...the email thingie, for whatever it's worth (or seen to be worth). But having been in the public eye for over two and a half decades, she's pretty much common knowledge as to where she falls on the spectrum. She's a left of center candidate running for president who's married to a left of center former president who's seeking to succeed a left of center president that she worked for. (And yes, "left of center"--clearly not radically so--is an apt description of her, despite some people's insistence that's she's somehow a closet Republican).
So there's not going to be that sort of shock factor in her going up against a Republican opponent than if someone who self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist might, and that's a clear advantage in my mind. I hate to say it, because I don't think it's fair, but I think a realistic attitude has to be considered here.
I hesitate to even post all of this. I almost never come into GD: P (unless it's to serve on a jury), as I have a lot of respect for both of our candidates and hate the type of nastiness and mudslinging and accusations that have occurred from both sides. But I just have to add my assessment of the situation, take it or leave it. Feel free to agree or disagree.....I just ask that you do so civilly.
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