Enter the Sanders Democrat

[n2doc]

Whether or not he defeats Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders has awakened a powerful new constituency
February 3, 2016 2:00AM ET
by Bhaskar Sunkara

Ever since Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980 with an appeal to blue-collar whites, politicians have chased the “Reagan Democrat.” The key to capturing swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, the theory went, was to win over white workers turned off by “tax-and-spend liberalism” and the excesses of the Democratic Party.

Bill Clinton restored Democratic control of the White House in 1992 by wooing back some of these voters. His role in transforming the Democratic Party at the national level throughout the 1990s is undeniable. It was Clinton — not Reagan — who balanced the budget and ended “welfare as we know it,” cementing a long-running reorientation of his party. Where Democrats once sought to expand the welfare state, the Clinton-led party managed its decline.

In this pursuit, the president found an ally in his wife. As first lady, Hillary Clinton echoed the administration’s tough-on-crime rhetoric and strongly supported landmark achievements such as the 1996 welfare reform bill, which placed onerous new restrictions and requirements on recipients of the program, and the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).



...

The closeness of this week’s Iowa caucuses, which ended in a virtual tie between Hillary Clinton and Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, is a sign that the New Democrat chickens are coming home to roost. The candidates, after all, could not have more different backgrounds. It’s not just that Clinton is polished and her talking points are carefully vetted, while Sanders is scraggy and more prone to speak off the cuff. Nor is it Sanders’ almost anachronistic background on the socialist left. The difference can be found in their language and the way they frame their appeals — both the style and substance of their politics. Clinton is quick to remind audiences that she “represented Wall Street” as a New York senator. Sanders, on the other hand, speaks of “breaking up” big banks, calls for a “political revolution” and doesn’t flinch from his socialist identity.

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http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2016/2/enter-the-sanders-democrat.html

[Gregorian]

1. That's why I have been saying that the big loser in Iowa was Reagan.