dagblog - Comments for "Bernie Sanders hasn't won anything"

And Huey Long, though he died

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 21:50:14 +0000

In reply to On the contrary, many wild

And Huey Long, though he died before got a chance in 1936. Might have changed our impression of the New Deal drastically.

Hillary will likely do it,

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 21:45:52 +0000

In reply to You need to look past the

Hillary will likely do it, but she discovered it's a huge mistake for the primaries - distracts from the early states and helps the opponent focused on early key wins. But yes, she mentioned it before and the Clinton's are pretty good with coattails

Sanders is in a great

Ramona — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 20:54:15 +0000

In reply to You need to look past the

Sanders is in a great position right now to keep the movement going, but I don't see how he can wear two hats as president--which is what he would have to do in order to satisfy the revolutionaries. What he and Elizabeth Warren have done to grab hearts and minds is pretty remarkable, but what happens when Bernie becomes president and actually has to govern with the same stubborn majority blocking his every move? The people supporting his call for a revolution won't settle for anything less than a full-blown, immediate turn-around, and he won't be able to deliver.

My hope is that he'll keep doing what he's doing, just not as president.

You need to look past the

Michael Wolraich — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 16:51:00 +0000

In reply to Agree on Warren---good

You need to look past the 2016 election. Sanders repeats ad nauseam that he wants to build a movement. Not a burst of election energy like Obama generated but an enduring national progressive movement. A movement that will give Democrats not a president, not a narrow, ephemeral congressional majority, but the kind of public support and government domination that created our progressive institutions in the 20th century.

Obama did not make an effort to do that. Hillary will not make an effort to do that. But we have to do that if we ever hope to climb out of this morass in which we have become trapped.

Agree on Warren---good

Oxy Mora — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 16:00:59 +0000

In reply to On the contrary, many wild

Agree on Warren---good judgment on her part. Don't get your "smarter strategy point". And we haven't much discussed down ticket races---Bernie might improve turnout but Hillary has so far raised more money for other candidates.

On the contrary, many wild

Michael Wolraich — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 15:52:16 +0000

In reply to The wild-eyed radicals rarely

On the contrary, many wild-eyed radicals have run for president. John Fremont, Victoria Woodhull, William Jennings Bryan, Bob La Follette, Theodore Roosevelt (in his radical 1912 phase) and Eugene McCarthy, to name a few. They rarely win, obviously, but their national exposure helps galvanize the movement.

I think arguments about Bernie's ability to win are quite reasonable. It's the argument that as president he wouldn't get anything done because he's so radical that seem specious to me, since it's blatantly obvious that no Democratic president will get anything done with this Congress. And I do believe that Bernie has a smarter strategy than Hillary for changing Congress.

PS I predict that Warren will run at some time. She just decided that this was not the year.

Of course. I'm just letting

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 06:04:52 +0000

In reply to I know right, how many years

Of course. I'm just letting you be right for now, but I'm keeping my list for when this is all over. Habit from my Nixon days, no grudge unturned. PUYA!!!

FDR stole much of Huey Long's

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:59:27 +0000

In reply to Perhaps, as Wolraich claims,

FDR stole much of Huey Long's platform, Share Our Wealth (Every Man a King}. 7.5 million club members, 60 million radio listeners. Long got assassinated, but Robert Penn Warren left him a great paean as compensation, as did Randy Newman. Wonder if Bernie supporters would ever cotton to a Southerner.

{Yes, kids, bigger than Katrina}

The wild-eyed radicals rarely

Ramona — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:31:40 +0000

In reply to I'm not suggesting that

The wild-eyed radicals rarely run for president. They hang around on the fringes and build their revolutionary momentum from the outside, not the inside. Once they're on the inside, any hint of radical views would, by necessity, have to take a back seat to actual governing. They're much more effective as the conscience of the movement, railing against an establishment that, more often than not, has spaghetti for guts.

Elizabeth Warren understands that, which is why I think she chose not to run for president. She knows her effectiveness lies in pushing the powers-that-be to the left--nearer to her point of view. She couldn't do that while occupying the White House as the leader of the free world.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony didn't seek higher office--not that they could have, anyway--but worked from outside the inner circle to accomplish what they did.

Bernie's strong points are his appeal to those who think government has let them down. Once he becomes part of the establishment, trying without much success to be all things to all people, his strength as a revolutionary leader will water down to nothing. Those counting on him will hate him for not getting it done and they'll go looking for someone else to lead the charge. It'll be a shame, since Bernie does what he does so well right where he is.

The Peter Principal in action.

Perhaps. I agree that there

ocean-kat — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 02:20:29 +0000

In reply to I'm not suggesting that

Perhaps. I agree that there is a near zero chance that the house will flip democratic and therefore a near zero chance that anything Hillary or Sanders are proposing will get passed