Bernie Sanders Is Stuck Being A Regular Politician Now

[brooklynite]

(interesting piece on campaign tactics)

CONCORD, New Hampshire — On Thursday, Bernie Sanders joined the Democratic Party when he officially signed up to appear on ballot for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

...snip...

But as he becomes a regular Democrat, Sanders is also becoming something else: a regular politician.

Five months in, the candidate’s pledge to run a different kind of campaign has collided with the realities of a competitive, two-person primary. He’s responded with the trappings of a traditional politician: His campaign hired a pollster, launched a debut television ad casting Sanders as the “honest leader” in the race, drew aggressive contrasts with Hillary Clinton in a key speech at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Iowa, and in a sharp interview with the Wall Street Journal this week, Sanders himself raised the question of Clinton’s character regarding her recent opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

...snip...

Aides from the Dean campaign identified a key lesson from 2004 for Sanders: Once you lose your hard-earned insurgent status, once you become a “regular politician,” you can’t come back. In the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses, Dean spent weeks beating back sustained attacks from Dick Gephardt, whose future in the race depended on the state. Voters expected Dean to fight back: The former Vermont governor was already perceived as scrappy — even too aggressive at times. But some former staffers said the protracted sniping, which played out on the trail and in ads, dulled Dean’s non-politician politician look.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/bernie-sanders-is-stuck-being-a-regular-politician-now#.emqxYVYkP

[NCTraveler]

1. He is a career politican. There is really no question about that.

He is the political insider who does a great job pandering to his base. I don't see much wrong with it. Unfortunately for him, out of political necessity, he has always pandered to a very small group. Not our base.

[NurseJackie]

10. It sure seems like it!

[monmouth4]

2. He is stuck being a regular winning politician IMO. Go Bernie!..n/t

[think]

3. Do regular politicians support single payer & breaking up too big to fail banks ?

That would be awesome...

[Armstead]

4. And that's a good thing IMO -- not just in terms of Sanders

For decades, the idea of people who are truly liberal/progressive actually getting into positions to influence events seemed like an unattainable goal.....Things moved in the opposite direction where the Democratic Party itself seemed intent on marginalizing liberalism and progressive populism -- and succeeded in removing Liberalism from the mainstream.

Instead the template was that, no matter what good intentions a candidate might have in the beginning, the only politicians who could rise where mealy-mouthed and semi-corrupt careerists. A successful candidate had to leave their idealism behind in order to succeed as a "centrist" which is code for business-as-usual corporate conservative.

And that's how we've ended up with Tweedle-Dee Teedle Dum politics, in which both parties are ultimately more beholden to Brig Money, Big Corporations and Big Power, rather than the public interest.

And the tepidness of the Democratic Party and its rejection of liberal populism allowed the GOP to gain supremacy by seeming more authentic to many voters as a self-professed conservative party.

Sanders campaign is an effort to actually inject a politics that is truly liberal/progressive BACK into the mainstream, by being strategic and pragmatic WITHOUT sacrificing basic principles.

Inevitably that does require compromises and "political gamesmanship." But that is not necessarily the same as selling out principles or values.

Whether or not Sanders ultimately does get the nomination, the success he has achieved is an important precedent -- and hopefully a template moving forward.

[brooklynite]

5. One person's "leaving idealism behind" is another's "pragmatic compormise"

Unless you have an insurmountable majority of like-minded progressives, you won't be able to have your way without reaching a deal with people who don't agree with you.

[Armstead]

6. I didn't say it was simple or easy -- but selling out is not pragmatic compromise

For example, in the healthcare debate, a pragmatic compromise would have been if just a few more Democrats in Congress had actually put their money where their beliefs were and aggressively supported a public option expansion of Medicare as a step in that direction.

....And actually fought for that by actively challenging the lies of the GOP and drug/insurance/corporate health complex.

That would not have been a "radical" move.(I also think tactically Obama should have waited a year or so, and clear up the economic mes of the time first before tackling that issue.)

Instead the combination of corruption and cowardice of the establishment took the health care debate in the OPPOSITE direction, by eliminating even a mild public option, and forcing a GOP form of "reform" that created a captive market for private insurance.

That whole mentality has to change. And it CAN change over time if the democratic Party (upper and lower levels) realize that they actually have to FIGHT the GOP and STAND UP for a progressive/liberal./populist alternative.

And before you mention unicorns or ponies, that is NOT an unrealistic possibility. It is simply getting back to the better traditions and systems of the Democratic Party once had, when "pragmatic compromise" did not mean "giving up" or "selling out" at the beginning.

[catnhatnh]

7. Except total bullshit

"Sanders himself raised the question of Clinton’s character regarding her recent opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "

From the WSJ interview;

" Asked about Mrs. Clinton’s recent announcement that she opposed a Pacific trade deal she had once backed, among other changes in position, he said that consistency on such issues “does speak to the character of a person.” ".

Once you ask about a subject it is ridiculous to suggest the person you queried "brought it up".

[nc4bo]

8. Thank you Bernie Sanders for representing the 99% in our corruption infested political system! nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Yep. They're both politicians. Like whales and hamsters are both mammals.

There are, however, differences between the two.

[MaggieD]

11. There are differences

But he doesn't come up on top when you compare the two, as the polls consistently show.