As an immigrant from Germany, who became politically conscious in Germany during the 60's when the Social Democrats (SPD) first became a political force to be reckoned with, I agree with most of Sanders' aspirational goals.
The problem is, that Bernie by nature seems to be a “rabble rouser”, wanting “revolution”, rather than a policy maker, who (a) knows how to implement these policies, and (b) is willing and able to negotiate for their implementation.
Reading through the material on Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan (as he likes to say - “I wrote the damn thing”), it is very detailed on all the benefits, outstripping in most cases the benefits provided by true and tested universal health insurance schemes from around the world, but extremely sparse on how to fund and implement this plan. He talkes vaguely about a “tax on extreme wealth” to fund much of the huge costs.
This, of course, misses the central feature of “Medicare”, supposedly the model for his proposal, which is funded by a dedicated “payroll tax”, split between employers and employees, and progressive in nature, as the “tax” is geared to the income of the individual. The success and stability of Medicare is dependent on such a dedicated and predictable funding stream.
.. cont'd...
6
Travel to or live in Europe, Japan, Canada, etc...I have! They are not communist, they have freedom, and they have universal healthcare, cheaper education, childcare, Green New Deal type policies, etc. These are human rights, and family values. Republicans don't want to fight for that, Sanders and Warren do. Biden and the democratic establishment are not fighting for these rights but rather just placating their base when they suggest moving toward them.
We need fair. We need money out of politics to make it fair. Biden accepts big money and therefor is beholden to big money. Not Sanders and Warren.
It does not matter if the chances are slim or not in this election or the next, we must keep pushing. It's how we get there, step by step. Dream big, fight hard. Sanders and Warren have said a hell of alot more as insurgent candidates than the rest. And they have been very clear. I don't hear clarity from Biden. And I don't see a candidate of the people.
If you live near the border of Canada, drive in for an hour and try to fill up your gas tank. Prices are fixed, all stations have the same price - and that makes shopping around unnecessary, and no stress. And it makes it fair. They extend that to education, child care, health care, and by doing so they don't worry about those things so desperately like we do in the US.
7
Finally, a sane and balanced reaction to Tuesday. Mr. Biden, aka Lazarus, was resuscitated by the asset transfers of Klobuchar, Buttigieg; along with the Red Terror injected by Bloomberg, the NYT's Friedman, and Terry McAuliffe. The Great Biden Sigh of Relief may lack substance, reflecting more the neuroses and lack of substance of the Center than true grit. Will it endure? The day after Trump wins or loses, the far more difficult task of rolling back the Right in- and outside government will remain. Your approach makes more sense than trying to rewrite history linking Bernie to Obama. For all of flaws of the Sanders campaign, the movement he has built is a better bet for the long term than a candidate whose main asset seems to be hugs.
6
The “Bernie people better fall-in-line” Biden moderates need to understand we see you and you don’t see us. We are African American, Indigenous, Latinx, White, Gay, Straight, Queer, Immigrants, Documented, Undocumented but we are also Gen X, Z, and Millennials and we are out numbered by too many of our elders who have gotten us into the messes we are trying to fix and still REFUSE to support us and make the changes needed.
We’ve seen Bernie and Biden our whole lives, we are educated, political and we know who they are. Our reasons for choosing Bernie in the last two presidential elections could not send a stronger message. We want the only elder who was actually part of the civil rights movement, has been fighting for human rights and economic justice and whose policies actually match the future we dream of not the man running on the coattails of Obama.
You are also over estimating the we must do anything to get rid of Trump line because we’ve survived all of it and for us Biden is Republican Light so ya’ll go for it with Biden. Because the energy those of us have for Bernie will not transfer to Biden. We will most likely throw our hands up because your choice only continues to squander our futures. Many of us our in midlife and recognize how bad the next half of our lives will also be because of you and really you all are the reason Trump is in office anyway. So you can try to shame us, berate us as you do but we won’t “fall in line,” you can count on that.
5
Biden can't beat Trump, Bernie can. Biden will not be able to keep his thoughts together for more than 10 minutes and that's not going to work. Yes, once again it's down to two old white guys but that's what we've got.
39
Look, we're in a national emergency - the #1 priority is to get the autocrat out of the White House and deny him the chance to cement a 6-3 SCOTUS majority where even John Roberts would be powerless to stop anything. Now is not the time for a risky candidate. Now's the time to play it safe and nominate the candidate with the broadest appeal. That candidate, like it or not, is Joe Biden.
59
@Jeff I agree with your assessment, absolutely! In addition, I am still outraged at Sanders' behavior from the audience when he lost to Hillary last time around.
6
@Jeff The play-it-safe candidate got us Trump in the first place. Biden sets up a perfect recreation of 2016, only with an even weaker Democratic candidate and Trump with the incumbency and consolidated Republican support.
15
@Jeff Sanders voters - like me - aren't just "values" voters who will support the right ideas even if it costs us the election. I think Sanders has a better chance of defeating Trump.
If the economy is in ruins come October, Biden will waltz in. Otherwise, he's a mediocre candidate - an afterthought in previous nominating contests - who can barely string thoughts together on stage. His years as part of the political establishment - supporting the credit card industry, voting for bad wars, et cetera - will allow Trump to be both the president and the rebel who is still draining the swamp.
Maybe it's enough that Biden is "likable" and male, but he is otherwise a much worse candidate than Hillary Clinton, the most recent "safe bet."
17
Sanders is done. His poor showing on Super Tuesday illustrates that his campaign has plateaued. The youth vote didn't happen as expected. The Latino vote for him in Texas didn't happen. He can't get the African-American vote. His platform isn't getting any support by the Democratic party in Congress. And his elect-ability remains in question as Trump will have too easy of a time making an issue of his socialist label.
Trump needs to go, but it looks like Biden is going to have to be the one to try and make that happen. Crossing my fingers that we don't have another 4 years of the Trump disaster.
33
This headline made me laugh out loud.
The burn can't win, never could and needs to go retire.
13
Bruenig correctly writes that "It doesn’t take a radical to embrace the idea that people ought to be able to have and care for their families " but that is the exact problem with Sanders. I am an ordinary Democrat and I can easily support federal laws for higher minimum wage, federally mandated maternity leave, etc. But obviously I won't make a Castro supporter who honeymooned in the USSR and attended a "Death to the Yankee Everywhere" rally in Nicaragua the means by which I do so. Why does Bruenig need to cling to an unpatriotic radical in order to advance some fairly mainstream goals?
86
@Rex Nemorensis
Senator Sanders office has always been responsive to the needs of all Vermonters, though probably favoring the less resourced, aging population.
And may I report, the Vermont "socialist party" is either a state of mind or completely underground. Bernie is definitely not leading study groups or leaf letting. I doubt he has any time for political "theory" beyond what he espouses at rallies and on television, strictly for your benefit.
I am proud he has made it this far.
17
@Rex Nemorensis
I don't know, maybe because she disagrees with the label "unpatriotic radical"
Seems pretty simple to me.
8
@Rex Nemorensis No, you're distorting Bernie's statement and the meaning of what he said about the literacy campaign in Cuba. He said very clearly that he does not support dictators; however, the literacy campaign was extremely important in increasing the standard of living and choices available to previously illiterate Cubans. What's wrong with saying that? In fact, as a Bernie supporter I've implored his campaign to make a literacy campaign here in the US part of his platform. (Probably a good idea they didn't, given how merely supporting the Cuban campaign has brought on vicious attacks). How many people in prison are functionally literate? What could happen if they had the skills to survive better on the outside? Also, you can support the idea of the planned economy, which brought the Soviet Union from the most backward country in Europe at the time of the Russian Revolution to the second power in the world in fifty years without supporting its barbarism. Bernie's right, there are great, progressive ideas that are worth supporting while opposing dictatorships. You seem to ignore that Bernie calls himself a DEMOCRATIC socialist (which I think isn't really socialist). His call to involve masses of people in fighting for their own self interests is totally the opposite of attempting to crush their aspirations. Just look at his platform, it's against every manifestation of oligarchy and authoritarianism that exists, here and abroad.
18
Both candidates are flawed and will face an uphill battle confronting Trump in the general. Biden with his gaffes, poor debating ability, lack of forward vision and terrible record on trade, crime, bankruptcy isn't more electable than Bernie in general.
So the choice, as nyt columnist Michelle Goldberg puts it, is really between
Biden: High Risk Low Reward vs
Bernie: High Risk High Reward
1
Sanders needs to push the patriotic button. It is patriotic for every American to have healthcare. It is patriotic for Americans to be educated. It patriotic to provide childcare to every American baby. Yes, we ask Americans to die for our country. It is equally patriotic to make sure every man, woman, and child in America gets to full, healthy, job-secure lives.
It is not patriotic for the rich to take the whole American pie. The rich will always be with us. As patriotic Americans the rich should be begging to pay more in taxes. If they don’t, they are not patriotic Americans, but global elitists.
1
Bernie shouldn't expect a big bump of Warren supporters. He never routed out the problems with sexism by some vocal part of his followers. Sexism of the most vile kind toward Hillary in 2016. The same thing happened to Warren and then the culinary workers union with threats and published addresses. Sanders said they didn't represent him, but clearly they were some part of his base, so he lost all credibility.
He needed to fire people immediately and disconnect from certain kinds of groups. This kind of sexism is not just a few off-color jokes or some cat calls in the distant past. In Bernie's case even his past horrid essay could be overlooked. But not this. It inspires terror in any of the women who might dare go against him or his campaign.
It's an old story. Treat women in vile ways then soft-pedal the problem. Next, expect women to overlook it for the good of the cause. This has been a problem in the history of activism.
Saying it might be Russian trolls at the time the Russians were trying to support his candidacy, was not even logical. Now he's calling this out more strenuously when he needs the votes of women. Too little too late. Where were his continuous angry rants at these folks driving them out of his campaign? How about making your campaign seem safe for women?
My vote will go to Biden, I'm sorry Warren couldn't be the front runner instead of the Sanders. I was ready to vote for her.
3
Dream on. Bernie “Fidel really wasn’t so bad” Sanders is getting absolutely crushed by Biden in Florida. Joe is up 50 points on him in the latest polling:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/321847-latest-poll-of-florida-primary-shows-joe-biden-with-massive-lead-over-bernie-sanders
We cannot give away Florida to the Republicans and win in November. As if we needed any more evidence that Bernie would get demolished by Trump, this is it.
2
I want Biden. Not my first choice, that would have been Buttigieg, but I’ll taken Biden. Don’t give me Bernie. I’ll stay home. Old socialists should just fade into the sunset. Socialism has been tried and it has failed and should be put out to pasture for good.
2
He is a family value candidate just like I am twelve feet tall.
Yecccch.
2
Yes, Sanders's policies are things we desperately need in this country. However, at this particular moment in history, we face an existential crisis. If Trump is re-elected NONE of the progressive agenda will ever come to fruition. At this particular moment, the overriding object MUST be to defeat Trump and ideological purity be damned. I had hoped Warren would be able to thread the needle between needed policy change and electability. Clearly, that didn't work. But Tuesday's results also made it abundantly clear that Sanders has next to no chance to win a general election. His support has clearly reached a ceiling and his attempts to expand the electorate simply haven't worked. At this point, the only hope is to unify behind Biden (especially when he selects a younger, progressive, woman of color as his running mate), let him repair the damage to our government institutions wrought by Trump, then resume attempts to enact the policies we need.
1
corrected
DREAM!!!. Sanders is a semi-communist and his followers are dilutional young voters who are excited by the idea of a revolution, for the hack of it, to nowhere-ala 1917 in Russia. Sanders and his followers are unrealistic flower children that do not represent by any way the American spirit. They should be blocked by any means from ever achieving political power.
1
Family values ? The same could have been said about Fidel
Castro...
1
Thank you, Elizabeth Bruenig
You are the best thing to happen to the NYTimes in years.
4
What a farce. Bernie cancels his trip to Mississippi to talk about civil rights when he realizes his white bro culture resonates with zero black people. Off to Michigan to court the blue collar whites. Sounds like someone already in the White House. No thanks, and good bye.
2
A family value Marxist. I loved his rant against the "establishment" while running an ad where Obama says nice things about him. I'll just say he's awful and leave all the other dozens of adjectives to others.
2
Bernie’s learning how Trotsky felt in Mexico City as he waits for Warren to hit with the political ice pick.
After 3/17 when Bernie wins 0 delegates in Florida and Biden wins 219, it's over.
1
I hope not!
The knives are out, the establishment is circling, Bernie is a dead man walking.
1
We have a choice between an 80 year conservative that probably has dementia and and 80 year Democratic Socialist with a heart problem.
Neither is ideal but I'll take the guy without dementia.
3
"Elizabeth Bruenig is an Opinion writer."
Ms. Breunig is also a full-throated supporter of Senator Sanders, as is her husband, so this is less "opinion" than it is free advertisement for the Sanders campaign.
1
Eh. I like Sanders’ platform (what there is of it that’s specific — which, in contrast to Sen. Warren’s plans, is not a lot), and I like Sanders himself, and I like the in-real-life Sanders supporters I’ve met…
But if he were the nominee, the constant klaxon of his GRU-flavored online support, blaring night and day, week after week, from July through November 2020, demanding that the USA’s political system be dismantled, that Putin be absolved of all crimes, that Trump and Pelosi are “the same,” that democracy is weak while autocracy is strong… I doubt I could take it.
Worse still are the few useful idiots who are genuine voting citizens who in real life repeat that online trash, whose volume in numbers is fortunately inversely proportional to their volume in decibels — kee-ripes, I don’t look forward to more of their nonsense.
And if Sanders is the nominee, the moment in August or September when the GRU switch the message to “Sanders is no longer pure enough!” — trotting out his 501(c)(4) and other old dark money news… that’ll be a centrifuge spinning out of control.
I feel for you, I really do. I’m a progressive myself, and your strategy for Sanders, focusing on family leave et al… it’s appealing.
But what a burden, Putin-planted operatives all over the Internet, “supporting” your man.
Much as I like your fellow, I think we need to save our democracy first, then get the GRU out of our business.
Sadly, reform will have to wait. Putin’s inroads have made it necessary.
1
ya cant spout Bolshie rhetoric and expect to take the suburbs. would be curious about how much of the "old" Vermont (not white liberals and hippies from NYC like him who moved up there) vote he got as Gov.
on the other hand, Biden is so Geo Bush Clinton Obama. What irks me is that people thought of Obama as the great hope..Nonsense. he was a status quo conservative democrat from an uber privileged background.
You’d think the country that defeated the Nazis and never leaves an American on the battlefield would be able to do what every other country has done and takes for granted as one of the basic cornerstones of civilization, access to healthcare. You’d think the candidate who is running on a spiritual sense of love they neighbor, uniting the world for a climate future and family values would resonate with anyone who isn’t an utter psychopath.
5
Great article!
2
Finally some common sense in NYT instead of the usual fear-mongering smears about Sanders. Thank you!!!
6
Gibberistic columns notwithstanding, Sanders is toast.
Fuggedaboutim.
1
Ms Bruenig informed us on February 5th:
"...It is difficult to see a robust centrist victory in the months ahead. Supposing Mr. Sanders follows Iowa with a win in New Hampshire on Feb. 11 — as polling forecasts — then his campaign will have achieved heady momentum. Mr. Biden may hope to eke out a lead through success in Southern primaries and tweaks to convention rules, but Mr. Sanders is picking up steam in South Carolina, and these 11th-hour D.N.C. machinations reek of desperation. A narrow win under dubious conditions is no victory for the center, and augurs doom even as it delays it..."
A person better trained in - dare I say it - statistics and/or allied quantitative disciplines would have noted the following:
1. The polls showed that in the aggregate moderates enjoyed between 14 to 26% points more support than Sanders + Warren.
2. If the marginal moderate candidates exited the race, the remaining lead contender would pick up most of that support and clobber the progressives' standard bearer.
3. RCP polling averages when adjusted for Mean Standard Error (MSE) seemed to show a very low coefficient of variation around moderates vote shares. That metric was nearly twice as much for progressives - a level of dispersion that reflected greater uncertainty and volatility.
The NYT opinion team consists of English, history, and divinity majors who know not the difference between MSE and MSG. Critical thinkers all who lack any useful quant skills.
Frankly Ms. Bruenig...
1
Words are easy. Show me in detail how to pay for this and I’ll jump on board. Spolier alert: you can’t and neither can the socialist who isn’t even a Democrat
1
My favorite thing about Bernie is how consistent he is with regard to the DNC nomination rules. /sarcasm
A personality cult is one thing. But a personality cult that can’t get voters to the polls, disparages the political will of African Americans, and slimes political rivals at a crucial juncture of our nations history is just pathetic.
1
Finally, a positive NYT’s opinion piece on Bernie; better late than never or just trying to keep your subscribers who are loyal to Mr. Sanders?
3
Oh. Got it, thanks.
Translation: St Bernie can lie a lot.
Excellent. Whoda thunk it?
Or to put this another way, perhaps you might ease up on the excuses and alibis and scapegoatings, and tell the plain truth as best you know it.
Just a suggestion.
1
Paul Krugman's column today answers this fully.
Finally! A NYT opinion piece that is referencing the real Bernie Sanders. It may be too little, too late, but I am relieved to finally read an honest appraisal of Bernies policies instead of another “scary socialist” hit piece!
3
“Anerica’s Favorite Radical?”
Please.
I’ve got a long, long list of better.,
1
Awwww . . Ms. Bruenig . . . nice to see you standing up for Mr. Sanders. He was my "guy" too. . .
2
Are you kidding? If Sanders goes on the attack against Biden he can forget about appealing to anxious and weary suburbanites. That sort of attack politics is exactly what the suburban moderates are voting against and made so many of us cringe during the debates. It’s too late for Sanders to appeal to moderate suburbanites. He rejected that strategy and told us he would bring in millions of new voters. Bernie’s campaign screwed up. Going on the attack now will just make it worse.
1
The thing about “family values” is that it generally translates to “singles & childless hostile”. Every single candidate is guilty of viewing us as a neverending source of subsidization of social programs for literally every other constituency. But Sanders (and Warren before she dropped out) is particularly intent on further digging the loose change from our pockets while offering nothing in return. How about equalizing our income tax burden? Or giving us more help buying a house? That might make the other proposals more palatable. And while I am all for helping the truly needy, it makes me ill to think I might have to pay for middle class people’s babysitting. Oh who did I vote for in the primary? Biden. I have no illusions that he will actively help my constituency, but I think he will do the least to screw us over.
2
Sanders is his worst enemy, he is unable or unwilling to make any adjustments to his approach to campaigning or his stump speech. Sanders began his quest in 2016 with his revolution rhetoric that worked well for him then. Obviously, it has not worked for him this time. Sanders should have ditched his socialist and revolution nonsense and make all efforts to assure everyone - not only his base - that the changes that he is proposing would not hurt anyone, assure them that he would do everything in his power to make sure that his changes will not mean that people would lose or have to give up everything they consider keeping. He should have stopped denigrating capitalism and the rich. It was only necessary that he would demand that the rich shoulder more of the burden of making this nation a little more equal and fair. At this point, it's hard to believe that Sanders still has a chance to win the nomination. He comes across as a cranky old man, unwilling to soothe the nerves of those who feel scared of radical change. So, it appears it's too late for Sanders. His legacy has been, "right message, atrocious messenger."
2
Bernie calls himself a democratic socialist. That is fair and accurate. However ...
Since we're living in our ahistorical United States of Amnesia, Bernie has to educate voters about democratic socialism, and this article has excellent suggestions for him.
The label "Democratic Socialist" is THE single, biggest, and most lethal liability of Bernie's entire run. It is that simple.
So Bernie has to preemptively, day by day, disarm the false but effective "Socialist-Communist" bomb from Trump and make it a dud.
Bernie's campaign urgently needs to make short and frequent ads with Bernie giving friendly fireside chats about what his democratic socialism actually is.
If Bernie fails to do this he'll be serving his own live bomb on a silver platter to the corporatist opposition.
His campaign's recent Obama ad was disastrous and absurd because absolutely against brand.
In addition, Bernie could never out-Obama Biden, how ridiculous! Especially because Bernie is offering something different and far better than Obama or Biden ever delivered.
Not a pipe dream or a "radical" idea, but the kind of system already in place in the majority of advanced countries.
Bernie needs to let voters know this is entirely possible.
oz.
1
The Democratic focus is that undefined elusive term "electability", not important issues that will actually improve our lives. In that regard, Bernie has lost all his momentum because his large expected turnout did not materialize on Super Tuesday.
If Americans wanted REAL progress, hope, and optimism for the future, they would have voted for Elizabeth Warren. Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign ruined it for Warren in 2020. People don't trust that women candidates can win because Clinton's campaign was such a mismanaged unmitigated disaster. She ignored critical segments of voters whom Warren has never overlooked while campaigning or in office. But visions of Hillary stayed in people's heads.
I said I would vote for a pet rock over Donald Trump. Looks like Joe Biden is the pet rock. Utterly disappointing.
1
Bernie is a millionaire Socialist with three homes, a track record of making no friends, accomplishing nothing in the Senate and who has expressed his appreciation for the policies of Fidel and Chavez. He proposed to nationalize the healthcare system but after calling himself a revolutionary, he doesn't like the feel of that label. He claims Biden is a corporatist and big money guy, yet Biden dominated Super Tuesday despite having no money to run a real campaign. Sanders claims to expand the party, yet his turn out and new voters are lukewarm at best and pathetic at worst. The American people have spoken. He appeals to a small, disaffected minority that includes many from the Press. The majority are looking for a left of center centrist who will bring this country together. Joe Biden is the only choice.
2
The voters will decide. The key is for the Sanders supporters to not take their marbles and go home as sore losers if Biden wins the nomination. If they want to gate crash the Democratic Party that's fine, but there's a larger obligation too.
2
It's not Bernie's ideas that are the problem. It's his personality. Hectoring and lecturing. Angry and pugnacious. My way or the highway. His message is important but the man is insufferable.
2
Warren was a better candidate than Bernie. Bernie is a selfish guy who doesn’t care about this country, just himself. It’s 2016 all over again.
2
I think Elizabeth has a very good imagination. But the reality of the upcoming primaries is very different from what she imagines and hopes for.
Jim Carson
If Bernie is the nominee, I vote Democrat straight ticket. If Joe "Iraq War/Ukraine Extortion" Biden is the nominee I vote Green straight ticket.
I voted Green straight ticket in 2016 too, after many years of Democratic Straight Ticket voting (including twice for President Obama).
Nominate Biden, Elect Trump.
1
Unless Trump, via Executive Order, cancels the election due to the virus, and rules under emergency powers for the next thirty years.
I can't imagine that anybody would take a good look at Joe Biden or listen to him for five minutes, and still want to vote for him
Trump is bad enough; do we have to exchange him for a Biden just because Biden happens to run as a democrat instead of a republican?
3
It's not the programs that Bernie touts that people ran away from on Super Tuesday. Sanders's programs are not that radical, it how he touts these programs. When he points his finger and gets red in the face he loses hordes of people who would most benefit. As Krugman wrote several weeks ago, Bernie is not that radical, he just plays one. And, that is the problem.
Someone get the man a good speaking coach. His presentation style which verges on raging anger acts to sink his credibility. He needs to zoom in and make his pitch personal. Slow down..be more folksy.
Coming across as lectoring is a big part of what sunk Warren's ship. Bernie folks stop him before he joins Warren under-water.
2
A major reason Sanders lost is that his young legion of "supporters" just didn't show up at the polls once again.
They are basically on the matrix unaware of or (worse) disinterested in anything going on in the disintegrating real world.
1
I joyously early voted for the person my heart and head told me to vote for. Why wait and allow my self to be fear-mongered into throwing away my precious vote on someone else’s idea of an electable candidate.
1
Bernie Sanders does not seem interested in including more folks as his followers. He is not reaching out to 'normies', and only wants to yell at his ardent followers about how bad and untransformed the rest of us are. He is going to need to actually like us, in order to persuade us. Seems like a tall order for him.
2
there is nothing about Sanders that makes me think he believes in "family values" ; he clearly believes in a revolution
1
Your article omits many of the problems with Bernie Sanders plan - no national security, no national defense, killing capitalism. You are very selectively focusing on family issues and not the whole picture of what Bernie Sanders proposes.
1
Ms. Bruenig, I will be blunt. America is not going to elect an aging Jewish Socialist to the Oval Office. It isn’t going to happen. I say that as an aging Jewish Socialist myself, truth be told.
I do not disagree that the programs Sanders has proposed in the course of his two campaigns for the presidency — universal and affordable child care, health care, education, housing, secure retirement, progressive taxation — should be part and parcel of life in America, as they are in most ‘advanced’ nations, including the one just a hundred miles or so to the north of my home here in the other Washington.
But nothing says those programs cannot be advocated by a president and members of Congress whom the American public perceives as ‘moderates’ - like Biden. By proudly identifying and pigeonholing himself as a ‘Socialist,’ Sanders goes into the battle saddled with a handicap he will never overcome in Peoria, Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Erie and the other far flung small towns and backward burgs in coal country, rust belt and rural America.
And as a Jewish kid who grew up in Alabama, I will tell you right now, Anti-Semitism is endemic in this society. It may run, it may even hide... but it isn’t going away. And it will accompany millions of voters as they walk into the voting booth, or fill,out their mail-in ballots.
If Sanders is the Democratic candidate, he will go the way of McGovern. And if Trump remains in office, we’re in for four dark, destructive years.
1
Seriously what has Bernie done in the past 30 years as a senator that was significant? Please educate me.
1
In an article today (yesterday?) in the Upshot, Mr. Sanders wants 75% of all university courses taught by tenured faculty.
A nice idea, except that this would result in massive firing of adjuncts ruining any chance they may ever have for making it into the system.
Moreover, mandating such a policy would be government infringement upon academic freedom of universities unheard of anywhere in the western world.
Sounds like a great cure for higher education. Bolshevism.
See the other articles in the NYT re Mr. Sanders and the Soviet Union in ~1988.
2
Bernie is simply selling a new shiny toy. To get to his nirvana, most Americans would have to give up their quality of life and their income to fund it. Remember, in addition to his fantasies about Scandinavian living, Bernie also thinks that Cuban socialism had a lot of redeeming value (minus the repression, of course). He could not even pull this off in his tiny home state, so hey, let's go national.
Black Americans understood that you don't get something for nothing. They helped Democrats come to their senses. Thank you.
Love this article. Hands down, the only reason to read the Times in the past week.
1
Bernie supporters have no idea how tired of them we are all. Truly, truly exhausted. If I never hear the words “neoliberal” or “corporate Dems” or “establishment” again in my life it will be a blessing. The anger, the rhetoric, the smug sense of superiority. The insistence that they are the most popular ideology in America even though they never get the votes. The insistence that everyone who doesn’t think exactly like them is corrupt or stupid or against change. The blind worship of Bernie and refusal to directly address his past, his lack of accomplishment, and his health. The blind dismissal of every one of their potential allies who won’t completely assimilate their beliefs. I has been a very long four years. You have been proven to be nothing but an endlessly vocal minority, and your attempts to threaten, extort, and shame other Democrats and independents have no power anymore. Give it a rest, finally, and give us some peace.
2
I'd vote for Sanders over Trump any day. But Sanders has no hope of enacting Medicare For All. And he suffers from too many unneccesary "I alone can save you" claims. Memo to Berie: Nobody, not even you, is irreplacible. Even now you're "Independant". I wish you luck at the Independant convention. As I said, I'll gladly vote for you over Trump,
But Biden's a better bet and more likely to succed in enacting any part of his program. You haven't delivered the countless new voters you claim to have responding to your message. That's why you're losing the primary. We ran Bloomberg's experiement. $500 million won't buy the Democratic nomination. We're running your experiment. A Democratic Socialist isn't a Democrat. so far, and won't be the Democratic nominee, either.
1
Finland wont get a rush of US citizens AND . You left out that Joe will get 90% of the super delegates. Biden only has to keep angry Bernie people from voting for Trump
No plan to get any of this through the legislature.
1
Was this column written on Opposite Day? I can't tell whether all of the points made are willful distortions or wishful thinking.
"Mr. Biden’s big night came after an almost panicked flurry of consolidation around him"
Deep in their hearts, Republicans like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz wish they had the courage to do what Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg did -- sacrifice their short term, long shot interests to save their party.
I'm not crazy about Joe Biden, but I'm sure that Bernie would spell disaster for the Democratic Party.
Bernie has had 5 years, including a couple of months as the front-runner for the nomination, to build his coalition. Instead, it has been all about abuse and division.
If young progressives want to remake or take over the Democratic Party, they might want to try a few things:
- Stop calling older and more moderate Democrats "corporate shills" and "normies"
- Pick a standard bearer who isn't pushing 80, with a 30 year record in DC of yelling at clouds
- Vote
1
Ms. Bruenig: Do you have college debt? Is your support of Bernie influenced by the hope he will pay it off, as he has promised?
It's nice to see the New York Times publish one pro-Bernie column.
Of course, right now it's there with two anti-Bernie and one anti-Warren column.
There is six months to go. Let's not be so definitive about who is electable and who isn't.
1
Following Biden’s Super Tuesday victories, I am optimistic. Every patriotic American needs to get solidly behind Joe Biden and give him such overwhelming victories in the Primary and General Elections that all the machinations of Putin and his American pawns shatter under the potency of these United States of America.
There is no Copyright on this message. Please pass it on!
1
Who would you rather be in a foxhole with? Clue: not a politician.
I don't know what is more absurd - the Bernie Sanders movement clinging to their revolution at a time when the country is tapped out or the internet's obsession with sexism vis a vis Elizabeth Warren. If there is a moment that reflects "while Rome burns" this is it. This isn't a time to fix the patriarchy. Nor is it a time to make socialism happen. This is a time to remove a dangerous man from power. It is a challenge that Americans have never faced to this extent. If we don't come together and fire him NOW we will have to endure four more years of a wildfire out of control. How to make people see this? I do not know. Is there just an endless need for filler on the pages of The NY Times and social media? Are we really so caught up in our own bubble we can't see the horrors that have gone on in the last three years on our watch? People always marvel at how Germany sat silently by as the Nazis exiled, humiliated and murdered millions - yet here we are, hemming and hawing about things that will be fights for the next 20 and 30 years. Removing Trump is a RIGHT NOW kind of problem and the only one who can unite Democrats and give us enough power to defeat him is the guy who can win Florida and Pennsylvania. This shouldn't be that hard, saving the country and the world.
1
Bernie Sanders is Moscow's favored candidate.
Bernie Sanders keeps promising a surge in new voters but it's a myth. The surge was for Biden, not Bernie.
Bernie Sanders, if nominated, will drag Democrats down to defeat.
Any day now, The New York Times will re-do their endorsement and select a third loser, Bernie Sanders.
Have y'all ever been west of the Hudson?
1
We tend to conflate democratic Socialism with Communism. They are completely different. In a Communist country the government controls industry and is the only real political option. In countries such as Denmark, industry is run by individuals, motivated by profit. There are many political parties with varying views. The consensus of the people voting has been for higher levels of social services supported by higher taxes. It’s not scary.
5
Older Democrats, having been convinced that Sanders cost Clinton the last election (not true), and having been convinced that Sanders is as intemperate as Trump (not true), are not going to vote for him in the primary at this stage of the game no matter what he does. Have you seen the polling in Florida? Sanders is barely ahead of Gabbard.
Look, I believe that if push came to shove in a general election, older Democrats would vote for Sanders over Trump. But nothing Sanders does now is going to get him the nomination. The die is cast.
6
In India, government hospitals and schools provide free service and free education. In a few if not free, a very small fee. And guess what, India is a developing country and is the 2nd most populated country in the world!
And now here I am in America, the most wealthiest and powerful nation in the world, who gives millions in aids to countries like India. BUT America somehow cannot afford universal health care and free education to its own people! Can you believe it??
I am sorry that none of the US politicians can't see this as a major problem, except Bernie.
9
@Anoop There is no "free" health care or "free" education in any country. People may fool themselves into thinking there is if they choose to ignore who is paying, and how.
It doesn't matter how Bernie sees things if he can't get elected. Which he can't.
3
Sanders, along with Warren, Harris, Booker, Steyer and others in the race, raised issues that need to be tackled, and attention must be paid to those issues in the next administration. But we need to win – and not just the presidency, but the congress as well. If you can make a convincing argument that Sanders will create a wave big enough to also carry house and senate candidates with him, you’ve got my vote. But I don’t believe that’s going to happen and without a democratic congress, he’s toast. 2018 may not be the only way to win, but it’s a powerful recent example of winning and winning big.
3
Bruenig says "the Sanders campaign must set its sights on the kinds of voters who turned out for Mr. Biden on Tuesday night — anxious suburbanites wearied by the tumult of the Trump years."
AS IF!
Bernie bet his campaign on voters who have yet to turn out for him and it's far too late to court other groups now. Regardless, Bernie simply CANNOT win without the support of African American, women voters and ACTUAL DEMOCRATS and they cannot stand him!
4
@Elizabeth
And there you have it.
Millions of Bernie supporters can check all three of your criteria, including being lifelong supporters of the Democratic Party, yet we are accused of not being “actual” Democrats.
Instead of questioning my Democratic values perhaps we should be asking why so many people who think like you are afraid of them. In my appraisal, Senator Sanders, and the people who support him, represent the very essence of what core Democratic principles are all about. Which leaves me to wonder why so many people like yourself reject those principles yet still identify themselves as Democrats.
1
Those countries that Sanders wants to emulate are not democratic socialist nations. They embrace capitalism but humanize it through government programs and policies that benefit the common citizen. They are social democracies. These are also countries which culturally do not encourage greed. Unfortunately, Sanders would be as divisive as Trump. Something that many Americans are not looking forward to. The only thing that saved Sanders on Super Tuesday was early voting. Without that, Sanders likely would have won one state--Vermont.
2
Thank you for a polite and rational argument for Bernie’s platform. His campaign is based on honesty and what he truly believes in. In any other rational country, this should be a recipe for winning.
7
Bernie Sanders has a superior ground game in most of the remaining (non-Southern) states. Unfortunately, Bernie is behind more than just a few delegates, and now Biden is very unlikely to get less than 15% of the vote in any state, making any Bernie gains very small. I would say the odds of Sanders winning are small, and furthermore, his odds of having enough delegates to win on the first ballot, before the establishment Super-Delegates can vote against him on the second ballot, are very small. What I fear is a repeat of 2016 when an establishment candidate won against Bernie, but lost against Trump, using the standard Democrat strategy of targeting the independent middle-of-the-road voter. That is why I voted for Bernie this time (I voted for Hillary last time), because I endorsed that strategy last time, but now I am favoring the strategy that brought Trump a victory - energizing the base to gin up a big voter turnout. Will the Dems make the same mistake again - it sure looks like the establishment is trying awful hard to make it happen.
3
I knew right from November 2016, after Hillary lost to Trump, that A Female Presidential Candidate Will Not Win in 2020 Because People Are Suffering From Hillary's Lost Post-Traumatic Syndrome (HLPTS). I said right from November 2016 that it's going to be Bernie versus Biden, and I know that Democrats Will Lose If Bernie Sanders Is Not The Nominee just as it was in 2016. I said the same in Summer 2016 after Bernie Sanders dropped out, that Trump will become the President. And It Came To Past because most Sanders' Independent supporters that I met here in Pennsylvania chose Trump as their second choice. They Have No Love For Either Republican or Democratic Establishment; just like Bernie Sanders himself who's also Independent.
2
Sanders is the safest pick for Democrats - that's what I heard a former lobbyist and Democratic super delegate say. He said he's seen the oppo on Sanders and there's nothing there the public doesn't already know. The down side for Biden is that many republicans who are sick of trump voted for him on Super Tuesday, and now he has Bloomberg's backing. That alone tells me everything I need to know about Biden.
6
It’s amazing how many supposedly serious people either back Bernie Sanders or think he’d be a great president, if only he were electable. They’re in full sympathy with his intentions, if not with every aspect of his platform.
1
i have one word for you, ms. bruenig: superdelegates.
the party establishment put the fix in last saturday and in the run up to super tuesday. candidate drop outs, pledges, endorsements, media memes, talking points, and bundlers beating the drum for money.
"everything but the kitchen sink."
if you think they're going to leave the job half done, you haven't acknowledged how much has been done already.
1
One of the good decisions the New York Times has made recently is hiring you! Thank you for your excellent writing. The media ought to give more credit to the fact that Bernie is a good man. He's going to do the right thing when it comes to making decisions about what's best for our country. He can and will compromise his positions if the result is progress for the working class. Biden is a good man but he is beholden to the interests of a generation that is on the way out. Thank you again for taking a bold stand in the face of clear media prejudice against Sanders.
9
I was an enthusiastic Elizabeth Warren supporter, and might have considered Bernie except that a large group of his supporters have completely turned me off with their online bullying tactics and nastiness towards Warren and her supporters leading up to and after Super Tuesday. The bullying on social media reached MAGAT proportions and was in many cases just as manipulative and lacking in any kind of logic as any Trumpist.
I'm not enthused about Biden in the slightest, but at least his camp tries to reach out to other Democrats instead of bullying. After 4 years of MAGATs and Trumpists the last thing we need to deal with is 4 more years of the same from the other direction. If so many Bernie supporters can't even reach out to progressive voters who were fans of Warren and therefore not too far from Bernie's policies, I don't see a path to any kind of greater consensus with moderate Democrats, much less moderate Republicans.
10
You say a "large group" but it's actually the loud minority. The large group are not online. They are working two, three jobs to pay their debt and live paycheck to paycheck. They are looking for ways to pay their medical debt before going bankrupt. They don't have time to debate for hours online. I ask you to please ignore the loud minority and think about those who will be left behind again if Biden becomes president. Thank you.
Please stop telling us the Sanders`s socialism is what's in place in Northern Europe or that every European country has the health care program he proposes. It is a blatant lie. Northern European countries fully embrace free trade and free market, which is something Sanders oposses. And most European countries allow private medical insurance and give their citizen a choice, but not Sanders. European countries have abandoned wealth taxes, which they found counterproductive, but not Sanders. Same with forced worker participation in company boards. So, please stop trying to sell us this angry socialist as a moderate European.
9
Free lesson: Sanders is NOT a socialist. That's so even if sanders himself keeps saying he is and/or thinks he is. I know ... sounds strange but is true.
Sanders is a classic New Dealer. Which directly translates to a very mainstream social democrat any and everywhere in Western Europe. Yep, that's what sanders is, a social democrat. And if he hopefully wins and also hopefully becomes the next prez, there is no doubt that he'll have to compromise (hopefully not too much) on many of his positions.
For example, on health care. Free health care for EVERYone? Absolutely! Yet why abolish all types of private health care options? Here, Sanders would probably compromise.
For example, on hopefully immediately raising taxes. Much higher taxes for higher earners? Absolutely! Yet in this case, why "only" a so called wealth tax? On apparently only on persons making something like 32m per year (or did I miss something here?)? Why not instead a DESPERATELY needed, very fair and very progressive taxes rate? In other words, just like the US used to have from 1945 till around 1980? Those were, without any doubt, the days in which the country was in much better shape!
4
@nobody Your lesson may be free, but there is no such thing as "Free health care" anywhere. If so-called "progressives" want to attract a broader following, they need to end that ridiculous lie.
1
Here is a famous story: A NOKIA billionaire got a speeding ticket of some $130,000. Their formula: 25k above the limit = income per day x 14.
3
Sorry but Finland has a tiny population, compared to the US, and likely most people are related to each other. Their social programs have been developing for decades - they didn't implement it in just 4 years. Bernie doesn't stand a chance, nomination or election.
While Joe is the front runner now for nomination it's less clear how he'll perform against Trump. I just don't see how he will excite the general populous.
5
Wow. Universal health care is justice. It's doable in some form in every other industrial nation on earth (not just Denmark) but we can't do it because it's hard? The richest nation on earth with a military budget larger than the next ten largest military budgets of other nation but it too hard and too expensive for us to fight for. Politics of defeat.
1
Biden most definitely won't excite the general populous. Sanders most definitely would, and without any doubt whatsoever. Unfortunately, sanders will not, just like last time, get a chance to do so. If he WERE given a chance to toe to toe with trump, there is absolutely no doubt that Sanders would totally bury him! Just like he woulduh last time around.
A LOTTA people (and not just the so called "experts" on TV and elsewhere) in the US still don't get it! Sanders was and still very much is by far the biggest threat not just to trump in general but to A LOT of trump's supporters in particular. That is, in a head to head competition / election campaign (btw Sanders and trump), there is the real risk (for trump) that A LOT of his voters would NOT vote for trump but instead for sanders!
That's why, in 2016, Sanders literally woulduh buried trump. And why, after 3 years of trump dumpster fire, he definitely would this time around.
Pound sand, Berniecrats! Here's why:
Ms. Bruenig forcefully lays out intellectual arguments in support of the conclusion that Sen. Sanders indeed possesses that "electability" factor that we Democrats are looking for.
In order to really convince us, we need to see it, graphically, somewhere. Perhaps Super Tuesday was not the best opportunity for the Sanders movement to show us that it can turn out new voters. I think the upcoming Arizona primary will tell us.
If Sanders can motivate the new, younger residents of Arizona, who skew Hispanic, to vote in significantly larger numbers than before, I will be convinced. There is almost no way that Trump wins if he can't carry Arizona.
So from this progressive Boomer Dem, my message to the Berniecrats is this: Pound Sand.
Arizona sand, that is, if you really want to show us that Bernie can win. If the progessive-leaning electorate cannot be greatly expanded in that state, then we need to rethink whether it actually can be expanded by the Sanders movement anywhere.
Show us, please.
4
Yep.
I wanna see numbers, Liz. Turnout numbers. Voting precinct numbers.
Bernie has not changed one word of his pitch in 5 years. Good luck getting him to do so now.
6
On the contrary, I would argue that the taxes that would necessary to pay for Medicate for All, Free College, etc. would make child even more expensive. Child care is a very labor intensive service, and a very significant chunk of the cost of labor is the income and payroll taxes the government collects on that labor. Plus, you have less disposable income left to cover it after paying your own taxes.
Of course, you can reduce this cost by offering government subsidies. But, then you have to raise the taxes even more to cover the subsidies. At the end of the day, you can't get something for nothing.
1
Sad. We have the largest military budget on earth. Larger than the next ten nations. No you don't get something for nothing. But we do get nuclear submarines.
What disappoints in the Democratic primary season is that no candidate has managed to weld together what I call the “three P’s,” — pragmatic progressive populism. The media often portray the race in linear terms, left versus center, progressive versus moderate, whatever. But a smart candidate would manage to transcend those divides. Joe is pragmatic to a fault and he styles himself a bit of a populist. But his populist seems like a facade and he’s hardly a progressive. And Bernie is a far thing from pragmatic. So we are left with voting for one of the two who is rightly going to disappoint. I will vote for the Democratic nominee, but neither of these two is the person I’d like to vote for. Where is that person?
2
@John California Unfortunately SHE left the race. We are left with a choice of old men.
@John California Probably breathing many sighs of relief for staying out of politics.
I find the tone of this article quite patronizing toward the voters who are supposedly to be won over - the "anxious suburbanites exhausted by the tumult of the Trump years," people who are "ordinary in almost every way." Gee, thanks! We feeble ones are sure lucky to have someone looking to save us from our own failures of boldness and understanding! If this is the attitude with which the Bernie camp plans to woo us, I think I'll pass.
11
Bernie's chances of winning this primary ended Super Tuesday. The democratic party coalesced around one, single candidate - Joe Biden.
Bernie has zero chance of winning anything else from here on. Zero.
Trump's only chance at winning in 2020 is if Bernie is on the ticket as an independent in November. That is his only chance. That is why Trump is doing everything he can, right now, to tout Bernie over Joe, and to increase the chances that voters will tip the scales towards Bernie, to keep Bernie's hopes alive so that Bernie does not drop out.
Bernie, wake up. There is no way you win the democratic nomination. And no way you win as an independent.
And in the off chance you actually get to be president, no way anything you propose will ever become law. The Senate and House will not put the sun, moon and stars that you're promising to everyone onto the backs of our kids and grandkids, nor will it raise taxes out of the stratosphere to pay these costs.
Are you that blind that you cannot see this? Look and See Bernie.
Do the right thing, right now, Bernie.
Four more years of Trump would break the country's, and the world's, back. Put your ego in your back pocket.
Do what is best for the nation and get out of this thing now. Unite behind Joe, and this thing is done.
For all that is good, please, please bow out of this.
10
If Mr. Sanders can speak as persuasively to those cautious but well-intentioned suburbanites as Ms. Bruenig does, he will be the next President.
6
The platform Bruenig describes is, or rather was, that of another candidate - Warren. Apparently, voters weren't excited by the prospect of free preschool and parental leave, etc. This is not to a dig at Elizabeth Warren - I voted for her.
My point is that voters, for the most part, do not vote based on issues, or even based on their own - real - self-interest. They vote mostly based on emotion.
Emotion, more than anything else, is what Sanders has used to - motivate - voters. As a result, he has amassed a solid following of highly motivated (to out it mildly) supporters.
The problem with appealing to people's emotions is that what is emotionally appealing one person can be emotionally appalling (pardon the pun) to another.
And so it is with Sanders. He's love-him-or-hate-him kind of guy. This, I think, best explains what happened on Super Tuesday. Yes, California, where I live, Latinos and the younger generation went for Sanders, so did a couple of other, much smaller states. But that was it. All of the remaining states didn't "feel the Bern." To the contrary, they probably felt scared to death that Sanders may actually become the nominee. And so they came out in troves and voted for Biden.
It's too late at this point for Sanders to have a change of heart and tell voters, hey, I am really just proposing what Elizabeth Warren had proposed. They won't buy that anymore. I don't buy it anymore.
6
I think, more than anything else, the country is looking for a return to some semblance of normalcy, not a revolution in 2020. That's why the voters will coalesce around Biden. The Sanders revolution, although it may be much needed, will have to wait until we recover from the reign of Trump and McConnell.
6
I'm a Warren supporter who will vote for Biden. Senator Sanders just needs to give it up and spare the country this turmoil.
He's banking on a lot of assumptions for his campaign but a majority of the country just want to take it to the bank and that means Joe Biden.
8
Well one bright spot for Sanders: the enormous age gap between his and his rivals’ supporters bodes well for him demographically. In 20 years the Democratic electorate should be solidly behind him!
2
From the Robert Reich article in Newsweek I cited earlier:
"Journalists wanting to appear serious about public policy continue to rip into Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (whose policies are almost as ambitious) for the costs of their proposals but never ask self-styled moderates like Buttigieg how they plan to cope with the costs of doing nothing or too little.
A related criticism of Sanders and Warren is that they haven't come up with ways to pay for their proposals. Sanders "only explained $25 trillion worth of revenue, which means the hole in there is bigger than the size of the entire economy of the United States," charged Mayor Pete.
Sanders' and Warren's wealth tax would go a long way toward paying for their plans.
But even if their wealth tax paid a small fraction of the costs of their proposals, so what? As long as every additional dollar of spending reduces by more than a dollar the future costs of climate change, inadequate healthcare and insufficient public investment, it makes sense to spend more."
1
Bruenig fails to understand the new dynamics of the race. It's no longer about programs, M4A, etc. Tuesday's results speak volumes: the Democratic majority that is coalescing around Biden has one goal only: defeating Trump. And they have decided that Joe has the best shot at pulling it off.
He represents the Presidential version of the Dem's victory in the midterms. Why change a strategy that is tested and proven to win?
Moreover, all the bets on Sanders don't factor-in the 1Billion dollars in advertising that Trump will carpet-bomb the nation with. Just wait for:
- Sanders honeymooning in the USSSR
- Sanders supporting the Iranian revolution (that took American hostages)
- Sanders speaking praise for Fidel Castro (while showing his missiles pointed at the U.S.)
- Sanders' words of support for the Sandinista government of Nicaragua
- Sanders wanting free and open borders, and the closing down the border patrol
- Sanders wanting to permanently shut down your private health insurance, and replace it with a huge government-run behemoth that still doesn't exist
- Sanders programs will double your taxes
etc.
Most of them will be lies. But they will hammer them ad nauseam. And all the need to do is make sure that those swing district in the rust belt, and suburban women who flipped to Trump in 2016, vote for him again in 2020. Or just stay home.
And it's game over.
The majority of Dems don't 'adore' Joe, but they've come to the smart conclusion that Bruenig refuses to see.
-
10
Why are we wasting our time discussing relative merits of Sanders’ programs that would never become law, even if he were president? It’s arguing about our favorite flavor of ice cream, even as the boat we are in is about to go over a waterfall.
The right-wing political ads suggested by @DonkeySpin are plausible and frightening. Our democracy faces an existential threat if Bernie is the nominee, because it would almost certainly mean Trump’s re-election.
2
Is it safe to assume that Ms. Bruenig is willing to hand over 70% of her earnings to the IRS in order to afford the kind of government services that she and Bernie are proposing- not to mention a Green New Deal and free tuition to every high school graduate who wishes to attend a state or city university? Yes, I know: higher taxes on the rich and fewer government outlays for the defense industry (both of which I eminently favor). Even so, unless we're willing to take on deficits that are three or four times what we're saddled with now where is all the money supposed to be coming from? Perhaps Ms. Bruenig would care to enlighten us. Or, more importantly, perhaps Sen. Sanders would consider doing so.
5
Everyone thinks they know what's going to happen, or why. Bruenig is a refreshing read, because they seem to set out a range of possibilities. And, they're just so cool.
3
If we were starting fresh Bernie's Medicare for all and abolishing private insurance would make sense.
But we are not starting fresh.
Employer provided health insurance arose during WW2 as a means to bypass wage controls.
People [ about 160 m] who today have employer provided health insurance do not want to give up that insurance.
To win in 2020 the Dem candidate must win the swing states, PA, MICH, WISC.
Will Sanders' position on health insurance help the Dem candidate win these states or lose these states.
I think they will lose these states and the election.
Why can't Bernie support allowing those who want to keep their employer provided insurance keep it and let those under 65 buy into a Medicare plan.
@david Requiring everyone to get health insurance from our dysfunctional and untrustworthy government would not make sense under any circumstances.
@Carl Yaffe
But those of us over 65 do, and Medicare is neither dysfunctional nor untrustworthy.
@R Lang I am well over 65, and you are entitled to your opinion.
As a Democrat and as an American I strongly support Joe Biden as the strongest candidate both in terms of his leadership skills and the sound policies he supports. I fear Bernie Sanders would lead us to defeat with his unfundable promises and his negative views about so many Americans.
5
Oh boy, here goes the train of Bernie supporters.
Bernie promised more voters to come. Facts - he is getting less than 2016.
Benie said young would come. Reality check - young voters are still missing in action.
Bernie Family Man? Does he care for his political Family - Democratic Party? Any one who does not buy his 'snake oil' is termed as a traitor and not progressive enough.
Why in the world Americans should accept a leader who does not treat 'other views' well, promises unrealistic policy prescriptions which are neither feasible financially nor politically?
The whole point of Biden candidacy is not to 'over promise and under deliver' (or deliver none).
5
If Sanders does not win Michigan, he should drop out. It's that simple. And he won't win Michigan. Why? Because Democrats in Michigan are pragmatic and non-dogmatic, in general. Michigan has always been a place where people don't like extremist-sounding rhetoric. Angry bloviating does not appeal to people there, they like consensus and compromise - generally. They know that Sanders is proposing much more radical ideas than Biden. They will naturally go for the incremental change candidate rather than the let's change everything candidate. Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt it. Sanders' supporters are operating on a false theory - that people want radical change. But as a column today pointed out, moderates won the midterm elections, not socialist radicals with wild ideas to expand government.
6
Attention: I'm from Michigan (but now very fortunately work and live in Germany) and Sanders absolutely has my vote!!!
Then why did he win Michigan in 2016?
I'm amazed at all the comparisons to 2016 and Hillary Clinton, as proof that Biden can't win.
This election is NOTHING like 2016.
Many people on both sides recoiled from Clinton and bought into silly conspiracy stories about her.
Many independents went with Trump to "try him out." They thought oh, don't worry, he'll be constrained by laws, and the way government works. He'll be more presidential once he's in the White House.
Those people now know Trump in all his sordid glory, and they won't be fooled again. In this sense Biden can easily appeal to them.
10
Sanders supporters need a reality check: nothing is "free," and his promises of "free" stuff are hollow and will not materialize, especially if the Senate remains in Republican control. Wake up. Sanders threatens to undo the Democratic control of the House, which was won by moderate Democrats who attracted former Trump voters. Everything has a cost, and Sanders's promises come without a realistic explanation of how he would pay for it; "revolution" will not sell with the more moderate electorate the turns out in November.
I for one am tired of Sanders' rigid ideological fundamentalism and anger.
Biden is the right choice. Period.
10
@Steven Dunn
I don't know. Trump's major legislative accomplishment was to give rich people a $1.5 trillion dollar tax break that was going to pay for itself. Are you worried about that?
7
@Andrew Zuckerman I despise Trump and his incompetent, divisive politics and yes, his absurd tax cuts for the wealthy. This has nothing to do with my point about Sanders' unrealistic claims of offering "free" stuff.
1
If Bernie wants to win, he simply has to put his programs forward without the words "socialism" and "revolution." Just calm down and make the case for his - as you say - very normal, Western Democracy proposals. What is the egotistical need to keep shouting "socialism" and "revolution?" It's unnecessary and, in the United States of America, self-defeating. And also untrue. Social Democracies in Scandinavia are neither "socialist" nor "revolutionary." But Bernie seems to want to make a point more than he wants to win an election. Which, sadly, leaves us with Biden.
5
@Charles Towers "Bernie seems to want to make a point more than he wants to win an election." Perfectly said. He is the model Henry Clay candidate - he'd rather be right than be president.
Let him be right in a comfortable retirement. He'll never get to the White House.
3
@Charles Towers And who's more "establishment" than Bernie? He's been a taxpayer-funded politician for decades (and will be, in a comfortable retirement), but so far, no "revolution."
1
My greatest concern about Senator Sanders is that he appears to be angry. If he goes on the attack against Joe Biden he will confirm this fear. Suburban voters are not drawn to negative campaigns.
In addition, negative attacks against a fellow Democrat at this stage in the process will help re-elect President Trump. Instead of launching attacks on each other, both candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination should focus on President Trump’s many weaknesses. There is plenty to criticize. There are many opportunities for differentiation. They can start the general election campaign against President Trump today without further diminishing party unity or the reputations of the two frontrunners. They can demonstrate how they will campaign effectively against Trump.
4
Who will be surprised on the day after the election when people are grumbling that if Sanders had not siphoned votes from Biden, Trump never would have won (Ohio, Pennsylvania), which put him over the top.
Who will be surprised on the day after the election when Bernie supporters are still whining about how they would have won by a landslide if everything wasn’t rigged against them?
Thank you for a fair evaluation of the current state of play.
Few Democrats disagree with Sanders ideas. Anyone saying we don't need strong action to halt climate change, or that health insurance need major improvements is in the minority. Most people I know who oppose Sanders oppose him, because they think that he is not electable. It may be that Sanders would lose to Trump in spite of what the polls show, but right now poor Joe Biden appears to be in serious cognitive decline. Joe Biden is a charming and decent man , but his record, his son and his apparent failings are easy pickings for Trump. I hope that Sanders can find some way to reassure voters that M4A and the green new deal are necessary steps and are not to be feared.
1
No. Not only do I think Sanders is unelectable, and that he would destroy down ballot Democrats' chances. I also think that, even if he were elected, he would be completely ineffective and would get nothing done. He has no idea how to work with Congress (and/or no desire). I can't imagine a worse choice - despite liking his ideas. I just don't see how he makes them happen.
7
The problems is, Bernie can't pay for his programs. His Medicare-for-All program is based on getting state and local governments to start sending the federal government the amount they currently spend on healthcare, with no mention as to how that sleight-of-hand will be effected. Viola! Then there's the fact that Congress will never vote these plans into existence, but apparently, we should ignore that, too, and vote Bernie! Sorry, Liz, but voters haven't been drinking the Kool-Aid. As Nicholas Kristof says, Biden is the change candidate, because Sanders’s grand hopes won’t come true.
5
Biden or Sanders will not matter. Trump will skate to an easy win.
One may only enjoy the image of Trump on skates, demanding a mulligan from the goalie.
Actually, with the pandemic in sight and the blow to the economy that it is already inflicting, it will be a very difficult time to rule for Democrats if they win the presidency. There will be disappointment and another move of the political pendulum to the right in the following elections. The next two years will be tough.
Nearly tied? Biden has a 75 delegate lead and his margin is dropping as late CA votes come in. At best Sanders nets maybe 25 more. And the surge is exhausted? Polling in FL shows it 61%/12%, with the same 61/12 in the 18-29 demographic.That's 219 delegates and Sanders may not even reach viability there.
4
I don't think Bernie should try to go on the attack and destroy Biden. What he should do is explain his program better. Also, at this point I don't think he has a chance. What he and progressives should start working on is on how to push some of the progressive agenda into the so-called moderates' program. Push Biden to move to the left--or he will lose.
3
Well, many said so, but Bernie is apparently stubborn, and that may be one of his flaws. Two points: the socialist label simply does not work in America, and his program is far from socialist (or is as socialist as Europe's so called socialist parties (which are really social democratic parties and programs). Instead of dropping the controversial moniker and stressing his program in an empirical way sans labels, or with allusions to the old democratic New Deal party, he insists on the identifications. It will scare away many constituencies. He remains dependent on the young cohort, which are less mature and may or may not come out and vote, as it happens. Frankly, they may be the future of America but I do not want a leader based on the youth's vote. I want a broader coalition of demographic groups. At this point, I do not think he has a chance to win the nomination. And I don't think Biden can beat Trump, btw. Things look bad.
1
This is very wishful thinking - exactly what is not needed now. Sanders explicitly made his appeal as the electable candidate on his ability to bring out the youth vote like never before. It didn't happen in 2016, so he lost the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton, fair and square. By Sanders' own account, it's not happening again this year. This is no time to gamble on dubious sloganeering, no matter what he says about his policies.
6
"Mr. Sanders will have to overcome his reluctance to go on the attack." Is this meant as satire?
6
This is uncomfortably similar to disinformation the Russians and Donald Trump are disseminating to sow discord and ensure Trump's reelection.
For a movement supposedly all about black Americans and women, Sanders has proven to have very limited appeal with either group. He appeals primarily to highly educated urban whites; or the most elite constituency, which is very small (though very loud). As the Times just reported, Sanders' closest ally, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, only won her seat in Congress because wealthy white gentrifiers voted for her, yet she lost overwhelmingly with every other constituency, most specifically working class blacks and Latinos.
This piece has no connection whatsoever with reality. Sanders just cancelled his events in Mississippi, proving he couldn't care less about family values, especially those of blacks and women.
Sanders after losing South Carolina, and then only 72 hours later losing Super Tuesday as well, had the gall to stand up rant about how he had only lost because he had dared to take on the "Corporate Establishment" and it was that "Corporate Establishment" which had voted against him.
It was breathtakingly false.
Only in a post-truth alternate-reality worthy of Donald Trump are the massive number of black voters who came out for Joe Biden in the same numbers they did for Barack Obama, followed by Suburban Women who also came out for Biden in record numbers, (both groups rejected Sanders), the "Corporate Establishment".
10
Thank you! You are absolutely right, and it needs to stop now. No more gaslighting and conspiracy theories using Bernie’s failure in order to drive a wedge into the opposition to Trump.
10
The writer suggests Sanders basically needs to change his spots. It's a little too late for that, by about 30 years. The majority of both Democratic voters and Americans overall do not want to hear about a revolution while worrying about ousting Trump from the White House and in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. Biden will now pick up most of the Bloomberg, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar voters, and more than people think of Warren's too. If not for early voting Sanders might have lost Colorado on Tuesday and won California much more narrowly.
3
I think this is whistling past the graveyard. Democrats who have not supported Sanders will not be won over by attacks on Biden. It will be old news, not likely to change minds. I can't imagine how Sanders makes inroads with suburban (female) voters; it's not the policies but how likely he is to achieve them. Sanders presents himself as anti-establishment; that doesn't fly with most suburban voters (or most voters).
I would not count on Elizabeth Warren supporters to come over wholesale. Warren and Sanders are viewed very differently in terms of their suitability for the job of President, whether based on temperament, the ability to develop and implement policy, or appoint a first rate cabinet.
7
Warren supporter turned Biden supporter here.
I think we have to be honest about the fact that most Democrats simply don't want their taxes to go up. People come up with all these philosophical reasons for not being able to support Sanders but the bottom line is that too many of us just want to protect our pocket books. This is not an intellectual debate about ideas even though we may want to pretend.
5
Yes, many European countries have the kind of government programs Sanders promises. Yes, a majority of Americans may say (in polls) that they want such benefits. But that doesn't mean they'll vote for Sanders.
Sanders will no doubt be asked how much his programs will cost, something that he's been very vague about, to say the least. Elizabeth Warren tried to put a price on what her programs would cost, & the sticker shock was one of the things that doomed her campaign.
Sanders can either keep masking the cost of his programs-- which will make many folks suspicious-- or he can say what he thinks they will cost (and scare off a lot of people).
People who say "Finland has such and such a program," etc. are forgetting one thing-- the U.S. is not Finland. And even liberals who say they want more social programs tend to get skittish when they see the price tag.
3
The author and many of the commenters seem not to know very well how the American political and governmental system works. Program plans are a dime a dozen, but getting them passed and funded is a matter that Sanders and his supporters seem to look beyond. I am a very liberal 70-year old who admires the ends of Sanders’ desired changes. But government runs on pragmatism and what can be politically accomplished, given the makeup of the two bodies of Congress. The vast majority of Americans understand this and will more likely vote for someone who can actually accomplish much of what she or he stands for. That’s why I’m currently in the Biden camp.
3
Thank you profusely for this opinion piece.
Bernie Sanders, not Joe Biden, is the real change agent.
We must have such a one. The stakes for the planet, and for all of us, are too high to "just" get rid of the current, terrible president we have.
I will work my heart out for Senator Sanders. Pushing 80, I only see the crises getting worse if we don't elect him.
7
I love this analysis and logic. I do and don't understand this American desire for freedom, choice, etc. but it ends up really being a prison and a con. I'm a born rebel without a cause and a natural contrarian so I understand the rebellious streak YET Americans in practice are followers and not as risk taking on average as they used to be (most of this energy is within the immigrants).
I loved the wild west growing up. The idea of gun control is anathema to me but yet I became a pacifist as I grew older so the idea of guns is also anathema to me. When I was younger, liberals would call me a conservative because I was all about pulling yourself by the bootstraps but now I realise so much of it is luck (in fact, as a humble person I would say ALL of my success is luck).
Selfishness and greed are part of the answer. That explains the Republican worldview. But fear I think explains the moderate (majority) worldview. Reagan certainly did a number on Americans and I thought he was a good President because he presented well (I was about 8 when he became POTUS).
2
"The express purpose of those 11th-hour efforts was to slow Mr. Sanders’s momentum on Super Tuesday, and it worked — but the gambit is exhausted now."
It is preposterous to think that endorsements by Mayor Pete and Senator Klobuchar helped slow Sander's momentum. Neither of them are household names and the reason they were dropping out was because they weren't doing well. Biden was Vice President for 8 years and is better known than both of them. If Obama had endorsed Biden, perhaps the argument that it was intended to slow down Sanders could be made.
The plain fact is people are concerned that Bernie may not win against Trump and were looking for a safer choice and decided to choose Biden. Another thing is that Bernie benefited last time around because of the concerns people had about Mrs. Clinton. With Biden, such concerns, at least to the extent thet existed about Mrs. Clinton, don't seem to exist.
It just may be that the country is not looking for a revolution but just someone that could get Trump out. It's just as simple as that. Nothing nefarious.
12
When Sanders goes on the attack, however, he CANNOT make the corruption case against Biden, otherwise it would be a huge boon for the Trump campaign if Biden becomes the nominee. We are all (dems) on the same team.
3
I appreciate this correction of the scare tactics to which the pro status quo centrist Democratic Republicans or Republican Democrats have been resorting to conceal the fact that they have no justification for running other than fear. In fact, we have no idea whether Biden or Sanders will be more likely to win a general election just as the media only last week thought it was Sanders in the primaries, and four years ago thought Trump had no chance in the Republican primaries and then no chance to beat Hillary in the general. Sanders beats Trump in head to head polls, so the argument that he has no chance is wrong, particularly given that no Democrat outside the South is going to pick up most of the Southern states where Biden has a large lead, but Bernie has a shot to beat Trump in the Rust Belt. To do so, Democratic family values should be a prime selling point for Sanders, meaning the range of social network elements that make the quality of life of the working and middle class so high in much of Europe, child care, preschool, a high minimum wage, universal health care (which will save much more in premiums and deductibles, etc. than it will cost in taxes), free college, and major infrastructure programs that will bring many back into the labor force and produce a Green Energy revolution. And he has dedicated taxes and revenues to pay for each of these on his website.
4
Ms. Bruenig writes that the upcoming primary calendar is more favorable to Bernie Sanders because most southern states are "already spoken for."
This conveniently ignores the region's two largest, delegate-rich states (Florida and Georgia, with a combined population of 33 million) which appear to be barren ground in Mr. Sanders' hunt for primary votes and convention delegates.
This also ignores the fact that Joe Biden has now won states in the upper Midwest (Minnesota), New England (Maine and Massachusetts) and (quasi) Mid Atlantic (Virginia).
Next week (March 10),
Sanders should do well in the Washington state and Idaho primaries, and in the North Dakota caucuses (where all of 14 delegates are at stake). But Mississippi and Missouri could be brutal for Team Bernie. So it is crucial that he win Michigan, a state in which he scored an upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. And he probably needs to win it big.
Biden is now the frontrunner and has an easier path to the Democratic nomination. He will probably run up the score over Sanders in most of the remaining big states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey.
So Michigan and Ohio are the wild cards. Sanders needs to do very well in both of these rustbelt states to still be viable. Michigan is next Tuesday. Ohio is the following Tuesday. After that, we'll know if this is still a two-man race.
3
Social welfare programs and immigration are inescapably linked politically. The Scandinavian comparisons have been around for decades, never mind that the comparison always glossed over the huge difference between the U.S. and tiny European states. But now? Even those states are being stressed by immigration and questions about paying for everyone. We can make a forceful argument for more programs, or we can stand proudly for a liberal immigration policy. Politically, it's impossible to do both.
4
"...America lags our peers..."
There is so much wrong with this op-ed that it's hard to know where to start, but that shard of a quotation is as good as any. First, our peers have no obligation or ability to defend the United States in any way. I was there, my hat is off to the allies who joined us for Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and my hat is off to our allies in NATO. But with the United States, there is an alliance; without the United States, there is a loose association of victim-Nations-to-be. The United States has maintained the peace in Western Europe and East Asia for 75 years, largely single-handedly.
Second, for a very large number of Americans the assertion that the United States lags other developed nations is offensively inaccurate. The rest of the world gets cheaper drugs because Americans pays for them. Medicare is cheaper because insurance pays more. Sanders 'policies' are a sham.
The real issues is that promises of freebies don't matter. Policy issues don't matter because policy is a team sport. The way the candidate makes people feel is ALL THAT MATTERS. Sanders and Trump make people angry, and most people don't like feeling angry. Yeah, I know, if you're an anger-oriented person that's hard to believe. Biden makes people feel hopeful, just as Obama did.
Finally, besides the questionable ethics of offering bribes to voters, it's particularly dishonest when those promises will never come to pass ... and the candidate cynically knows that.
6
If Bernie Sanders had ever shared your wish for him to be recognized as a family-values candidate and earn the confidence of normies, he wouldn't have campaigned the way he has done.
It's true that he advocates policies that would (if they ever became unassailable reality) greatly benefit ordinary people, but he goes out of his way to give the impression that he's selling upheaval.
The truth of the matter is that Bernie's in it for the upheaval. He's the campus radical who stayed on in Neverland to fight pirates. You don't do that in the hope that the pirates will be vanquished in due course and Neverland will become a nurturing nest for families. You want to be doing it always. The families are to become collateral beneficiaries on some forever distant day.
Bernie Sanders does not wear disguises. In the world he inhabits, there are no observers who matter to him.
9
I love Bernie but I think he made a mistake by hammering on the "democratic socialist" label instead of just focusing exclusively on his good policy ideas, which most Americans probably support.
Who cares what you call it? The fact is that what Bernie is proposing is pretty conventional in most countries. It's not really socialism at all, as Paul Krugman has pointed out. So why paint a target on your back by continuing to use a label that is an anathema to many people with so much historical baggage? I don't understand the strategy.
6
@Mark B I was planning to write exactly this when I opened to the comments section and the first post I saw was yours. Bernie Sanders is true blue. He needs to rework that meme of Democratic Socialist. The US needs to join the rest of the industrial world, rather than be fearful of it. Quality of life is wonderful, most Americans haven’t a clue what that can mean.
5
Yeah, everyone who doesn’t like Bernie is clueless. I lived in Western Europe. I know what it’s like. I know the long history of how it got that way, as well. And I understand the complexities and challenges of getting the USA, a much larger and more complicated county, to improve our system in a similar way. I just don’t believe that Bernie and his supporters do. Maybe they don’t have a clue.
4
@Mark B I was thinking this the other day too. He should have taken on the label of "Compassionate Capitalist" instead.
In her book "The Ones We've Been Waiting For," Charlotte Alter points out that socialism for Boomers means Russia, while socialism for Millennials means Sweden. Bernie needs Boomers to think like Millennials.
6
@Paul As if there's any chance of that happening....
I know a lot of baby boomers like me who voted for Bernie Sanders. I live in Colorado!
Sanders showing on Super Tuesday was respectable because of early voting. Without early voting his night would have been even much worse. Most of the states withthe largest number of delegate ahead are going to be tough for Sanders to win. These state are mainly in the Northeast and Midwest where he didn't do well in 2016. What Democrats need most is a better effort for Sanders to unite the party if he loses as it looks like he will. He may have played a big role in Trump winning in 2020 and we certainly can't afford to have that happen again.
7
Bernie is going to lose. He got 30% of the vote in California, which likes his politics. So 30 or35% of the vote is pretty much his maximum in nearly all the remaining states. Maybe he exceeds that in 2 or 3 states. Biden then will get the rest: 60 to 65%. So Biden wins. And defeats Trump in November. Trump would beat Sanders. By a couple million.
The fundamental defect in the argument of this column is that it has been proven--in these primaries--that not enough people in this country like Sanders' politics. All the programs that you are advising Sanders to use to win over voters, he has already campaigned on. And they just do not appeal to enough voters. The USA is not Finland. People--a lot of them--in the US don't think like Finns. If Sanders was someone other than who he has been his entire adult life--i.e. not a Socialist--then he could give up some of his programs in order to attract more moderates. But that is compromising, and Sanders and his supporters don't compromise.
9
@Gordon Wiggerhaus Yes, I was surprised by how low his vote percentage was in CA.
Roughly a month ago, the author wrote an article right after the Iowa caucus that titled "the center cannot hold", now another similar article of "how Bernie can still win it all". What happened? The center bloc of voters held, and Biden was victorious. We'll soon know long enough how accurate this op-ed is.
6
In noting Mr. Biden's victories, which of those Southern states is projected to vote Democratic in the fall?
6
Their votes shouldn’t count? Not very Democratic.
Thank you Ms. Bruenig, I can't believe I just actually read an opinion piece in the NYTs that gives a level headed perspective on Bernie.I think I will quit while I'm ahead and head up to bed and read a garden magazine.Thank you again.
7
Almost-panicked? This is the desperation of the Berniebots, and it's classic projection. Pete and Amy and Beto are nothing if not calculating. And if you think Elizabet Warren's supporters will now flock to Bernie, did you ever try to figure iut whey they supported her? Because she was progessive and not Bernis, is why.
6
All the ugly comments I read from the anti Bernie crowd make me wish to have nothing to do with a party consisting of such folk...and I'm just a Bernie sympathizer, not a supporter. I want Trump out of office, but I sure do wish I could totally disassociate myself from the hypocritical crowd who in the very same breath attack and spew such contempt for Sanders' and his supporters but then go on and whine about so called Bernie Bros.
9
@Mike B Thank you for noticing the hypocrisy and/or projection.
Bernie Sanders or 4 more years.
6
Four more years of Trump and you will never see a progressive president in your lifetime. The far right wing machine will be too entrenched in the system.
3
It's Bernie or bust. Biden will lose .
10
@Infinite observer If it's Bernie, prepare yourself for bust.
Sanders and his supporters like to tout Finland as a ideal socialist environment, so let us take a look at Finland.
1) Population less than 6 million
2) Mandatory Government Service
3) All males 18 to 60 can be conscripted into the military
4) Median income 29.5K in USD.
5) Progressive tax system
6) Lowest tax tier (the poor) pay almost 25% in tax across 3 mandatory taxes, including a Church Tax.
7) There is a 20% poverty rate based on Finnish living standards
8) Finland does NOT HAVE Birthright citizenship. Just because you are born there does not mean you are a citizen.
9) Foreigners pay 35% of their income if they have a work permit.
10) Illegal immigrants are automatically ejected and labeled criminals never allowed to return.
11) Almost NO ONE is trying to immigrate to Finland
12) Business and Success is taxed and penalized but only on income made in Finland so most Finnish wealthy people have their money offshore so it cannot be taxed.
So how many of you Bernie Bro's are willing to mandated to serve the Nation or be Conscripted up to your 61st birthday?
How many of the poor here will hand over 25% of their income, including a Church Tax and NOT GET A REFUND?
Take some time and read past the Bernie Bumper Sticker Slogans. His Medicare for All plan, alone, has a $50 TRILLION dollar tag and his tax plan has a $25 Million dollar hole in it. Even Bernie admits the poor will pay more in taxes under his plan
The math just does not add up. join reality people
12
Ahh, the continued delusion of Sanders supporters. Snap out of it already. You’re just plain wrong about the political climate.
6
As a CPA, I can tell you with professional authority that the IRS tax code provides plenty of socialism for the rich and large corporate 'people'
The question is why most Americans don't demand a little socialism for the unrich and real people.
'Socialism' in the modern sense isn't 'communism' or a state-owned takeover of capitalism.
Bernie Sanders' socialism is a humane social safety net that is up and running in capitalist countries around the world and workers are not bankrupted by healthcare, college, housing and unregulated corporate greed.
It's not 'radical'....it's humane.
And the countries where this 'socialism' is practice score higher on the World Happiness Index than the United States of Greed does.
World Happiness Report rankings
1 Finland
2 Denmark
3 Norway
4 Iceland
5 Netherlands
6 Switzerland
7 Sweden
8 New Zealand
9 Canada
10 Austria
11 Australia
12 Costa Rica
13 Israel
14 Luxembourg
15 United Kingdom
16 Ireland
17 Germany
18 Belgium
19 United States of America
'Socialism' in all the above market-economy states makes people happy....whereas in the USA, our 'free-market' 0.1% Welfare Queen state understandably makes people relatively unhappy.
Bernie has great human values....much finer values than the radical right that blindly supports the greatest healthcare rip-off in the world.
Feel the Bern.
D to go forward; R for Randian Reverse Hood Republicanism.
16
Bless you Dear Socrates. I miss your wisdom when you withdraw from us. Please don’t. I prefer a comment by you to all the Times OpEd pundits have to offer. Stay with us.
If Bernie wins, write me a note, a meal in your favorite Manhattan restaurant is in me. I owe you that much :-)
The problem is when you have supporters who hate and demean others and you can’t even rein them, you won’t win.
7
As E. Klein pointed out, hard for Bernie to lead a party that he loathes.
at first glance this article looks like a pro Bernie opinion piece. but then when I see hidden whisper words like "favorite radical" or just suggest that Bernie's you mean ideas are perhaps not so unreasonable, I realize that the New York times is really incapable of putting forward to truly pro Bernie article much less an opinion piece.
if Germany and France and England are radical countries, only then is burning a radical. Bernie is an FDR Democrat in terms of how government should be run but he's fully a capitalist when it comes to the basics of economies.
On the other hand by is a too big to fail legislative lobbyist in my opinion. is supported the destruction of the glass-steagall antitrust laws that protected us from the kind of tragedy we saw in 2008. Biden also backed the horrific 2005 bankruptcy act that made it nearly impossible for average Americans to get a clean slate bankruptcy to chapter 7. after 2008, millions of Americans lost their homes, their jobs, their life savings and then we're not able to get the kind of debt relief the chapter 7 offers thanks again to Biden.
I don't know why so many African Americans are listening to the propaganda on Biden. The truth is biting back the kind of racist Criminal laws in the history of our country. books have been written about the new Jim Crow. when I look at the contents of those books I think about the kind of laws Joe signed.
if mainstream media was unbiased, he would win hands down. He may anyway.
6
Neat theories, Ms. Bruenig. But Bernie reached the end of the line 2 days ago, on Super Tuesday.
4
The suggestions here are correct. It is especially the case that Bernie’s efforts this time around to be more “woke” have not paid off. His amazing support from working class people and younger and non-southern minorities is a reminder that the “identity” stuff is for the new-liberals, not working people. In addition, if one is to believe NYT reporting, the illusion has taken hold that Biden is the more electable candidate. Bernie can and must and will show that that is indeed a mistaken illusion sold by the Carville & C o crowd.
1
Ms. Bruenig - I voted for Biden in CA. I have a family and work hard to support them. I live family values every day. I am really tired of these infantile attempts to misappropriate terms that have actual, authentic, personal value, into some cheap rallying political term. And of all things "family values", is as cheap as how Republicans whored this term in the end of the 20th century. Full stop. If you want to start a socialist political party - go for it. But keep your claws off my political party.
5
He is a Socialist who will ruin the Democratic Party- of which he is not even a member. He insults my intelligence when he won’t explain how much his promises will cost and how he plans to pay for it.
6
I'm sick and tired of hearing that centrist Democrats like Hillary Clinton lost. How many democratic socialists have won the presidency? Was Jimmy Carter one? Was Bill Clinton one? Was Barack Obama one? Not! Only centrist Democrats have won the White House in recent memory. Get over it. This is a largely conservative country and most people here don't want to live in Finland.
6
Sanders is doing well with Latino voters? Are Cuban-American voters also Latinos? Latest poll from Florida shows Sanders at 12% to Biden's 61%. Yes, Latinos will decided this, and it will all end for Sanders in Florida.
5
I will vote Bernie before I vote Biden.
3
"Still, it isn’t over for Mr. Sanders"
Yes, Ms. Bruenig, it is.
6
As soon as you have to remind your readers that, “It’s not such a ridiculous idea.”, it’s a sign that it is indeed a ridiculous idea.
5
If the Prime Minister of Finland had spent her whole campaign yelling angrily until she got red in the face, she would not have been elected.
7
Sorry but although many democrats like some of Benie proposals must disagree with his package.
You do have to question the sanity of somebody that decides to call himself a socialist revolutionary in this time and age and that keep finding excuses to praise autocratic leftist regimes. Yes we all want better access to education but not Cuban education and the Venezuelan regime has nothing to be imitated.
3
When big pharma takes a billion dollars in tax money to develop a Covid 19 vaccine and will charge a thousand dollars per dose to the American people you will look back and know for a fact you messed up not voting for Sanders.
3
Sanders is indeed in disguise. A former Stalinist who refuses to divulge his complete income tax returns, who refuses to reveal his medical record, and whose followers voted for Trump in the last election. No wonder Trump and the Republican Party are rooting for his candicacy.
6
Outside the N.Y. Times echo chamber, Sander’s promises just don’t appeal to the center. Indeed the mundane facts of Europe’s healthcare and social welfare systems are necessary here. But it has to be paid for. No amount of Times insight on what he should do or editorial wishful thinking will change the public’s instinctive and sensible response to The Magic Grandpa’s math.
5
This the 2nd Elizabeth Breunig piece that I find odd. She is obviously the "Bernie Sanders Supporter" of the OpEd page. That's fine, but this is not written to explain "why I like Bernie Sanders," but instead is couched as some sort of expert news analysis piece explaining what Sanders can do to win the nomination. In this regard, Ms. Breunig has no experience as an election correspondent and that is clear from the fuzziness of her analysis.
Also, unlike a Nick Kristof or Maureen Dowd, she is basically unknown to readers. We are not interested in knowing what "Elizabeth Bruenig" has to say for its own sake. We need the context. What does she know about? Where is she coming from?
Providing context is what your editors need to be doing here. There is a whole new crop of writers on this page. They cannot do a good job of opinion journalism without some editorial guidance.
4
Keep rising Bernie. History is on your side.
1
You can't remodel your house when it's on fire.
4
It would help if Times Opinion writers at least pretended that they didn't have biases that skewed their opinions. I hope the Sanders Campaign at least pays your salary. It seems to this independent voter that your main role is to shill for Bernie.
3
We're looking at a repeat of 2016, putting Sleepy Joe up against the hateful Trump. Both Biden and Bernie should at the very least, in the future, refrain from debating the truthless Trump—that would be a waste of time. Trump doesn't deserve the time of day, after the last three years. He isn't fit to run a Burger King, we all know that.
Bernie is Bernt Out!
He cannot win, Biden will be the nominee!
2
Now first graders are commenting?
American education at its best.
Bravo. I thought we could not compete with Bangladesh and Mali.
Let's just hope he doesn't.
Too bad all the "Family Values" people are going to vote GOP/Trump.
Ms. Breunig, if you truly believe that Joe Biden is corrupt, as you have encouraged Senator Sanders to allege, then please publish the names, dates, actions, supporting witnesses and a detailed description of all of Biden's allegedly corrupt actions. Otherwise, you should surely ask Trump for a pay check because if you are not on his payroll, you should be.
4
You are the only columnist in NYT who rightly sees the good things in Bernard Sanders. Others are determined to see the bad things and amplify them.
1
Family values? All the primary candidates wanted to improve government support to healthcare, childcare, education, climate change, etc. This columnist like all Bernie supporters acts like their plan is the only way. It’s extremism like this which alienates many voters. Sanders is going to lose bad in the remaining delegate rich states like NY, NJ, MD, GA, IL. Polling indicates he might not even reach the viability threshold in FL.
1
Bernie is the best economic family values candidate since FDR, but Bruenig makes an implied, accurate criticism—Bernie is a terrible storyteller. His stump speech and debate performances are Powerpoints, with his wide-open eyes and waving hands as the graphic. 2/3rds of American parents can’t afford to replace the clutch on their car or take two days off from work for a sick child. Not only free preschool and paid family leave, but Bernie’s labor programs—$15 minimum wage, Green union wage jobs, constructing public housing helps families. Criminal justice reform helps black, brown, and poor white families.
When average people spontaneously tell their stories of hardship at Bernie’s town halls he waves them to stand, then hugs them afterwards. With great effort, he’s talked about growing up in Brooklyn with parents who argued about money—he’s empathic, not emotionally open.
Bernie hit a wall on Super Tuesday and knows he needs to change. A speechwriter with the freedom to express his extensive program as a narrative, mixing his broad, detailed program for public education, fair banking, immigration with stories from his supporters—teachers working three jobs and buying supplies for their students, workers exploited by paycheck lenders, immigrants whose parents were deported. Bernie would edit so he’s comfortable with it, and learn how to read from a transcript with genuine emotion. He needs a turning point.
It stuns and scares me that the Democratic establishment--and so many moderate voters--seem to have utterly forgotten the debacle of Hillary Clinton's candidacy. She and Joe are remarkably similar candidates, and it's only too likely the results will be too. Biden is polling at something like SIX percent with people under forty--they actively HATE him. Do we really think they'll turn out for him in a general election? In 2016, these younger voters stayed home or voted for Jill Stein--and 12 percent of them voted for Trump. Sometimes, doing the 'safe' thing is actually quite dangerous. Sanders may seem scary, and he's far from perfect--but he's a better bet than senile, uninspiring, baggage-laden Biden.
3
This analysis ignores that Biden's win was even more lopsided with later voters (post drop-outs), and that the remaining states largely went big for HRC over Sanders in 2016.
2
I never gave Biden a second thought when he was Obama's Vice President, but I think he's the only choice right now. If we can get Trump out, give RBG a chance to retire, and put a halt to bringing in totally unqualified Federal judges, we can aim for a strong progressive in 2024. Everything I've seen in Biden tells me he'll be a step forward rather than a step back. Furthermore, I think Biden will be willing to compromise with progressives.
8
What an upbeat, intelligently argued, and fair op-ed. Thank you Ms. Bruenig--and not just because I'm a Boomer Woman for Bernie. The analysis of "normies" (Normies for Bernie?!) was amusing and apt. Your going-forward suggestions deserve to be passed on to Sanders' campaign managers.
It might be best, however, considering the "angry old man" persona so many perceive, that we use the word "critique" rather than "attack," although if even fellow-sister Democrats don't realize that discussing Biden's factual actions (Iraq, Anita Hill case, etc.) is not "lying" or "smearing," the nation's in bigger trouble than we already think. And, for his own heart, Bernie would do well to perfect the more mellow (I thought!) delivery & demeanor of the last debate.
Back to you, though. Thank you also for such an eloquent summation:
"It doesn’t take a radical to embrace the idea that people ought to be able to have and care for their families whether they are rich or poor, nor a revolutionary to see that making such provisions universal is the fair and just thing to do. Those are the most basic and common of political aspirations: family values."
2
Bernie is the Norman Rockwell of 2020?
Mr. Sanders has a program Mr. Biden has memories, but those are not what determined last Tuesday.
It was the terror of another term for Trump and the push by the media of Biden having the better chance of doing that – an uncertain outcome.
Trump did not win on charm but due to discontent and that lingers on.
Bernie needs to polish those issues and expose how that is of no concern to this President, not focus on his opponents lack of direction, and see if that matters or not in the coming elections.
We may see Biden drifting leftward as Clinton had done in coming times.
Great article title definitely did not deliver the goods. I expected a state by state break down how it would be possible for Bernie Sanders to surpass Joe Biden‘s 75 point delegate lead and counting to win the Democratic nomination. Not the same spiel we’ve heard a million times on how Bernie’s ideas are really not that radical.
2
Twenty-somethings who think they can dismiss Cold War values because they "weren't alive then" are sorely mistaken. The images of Sanders cultivating relationships in the U.S.S.R. during the '80s will be devastating in a general. Maybe not in Berkeley or Cambridge, but they aren't important.
2
This article has a contradiction at its heart. On one hand it calls on Sanders to go on the attack against Biden, his record, and perceived corruption. On the other hand it is imploring Bernie to focus on the benefits of his program rather that anger and vitriol that threaten to plunge the country into a dark hot summer and fall. Come on, which is it?
2
Bernie Sanders must also confirm that he will re-make US foreign policy to be respectful of human rights and international law, consistent with United Nations SC resolutions, and based on the concept co-operation rather than domination.
1
"While some early projections forecast he would win as many as eight out of 14 states and amass a significant lead in pledged delegates, voters delivered a more modest outcome."
That 'more modest outcome' would be getting crushed as soon as large amounts of non-white voters were in play. Game over, Liz. Time to jump on the winning team.
4
It doesn't matter how many votes Sanders may get, because he can't win the electoral college. He won't win Ohio, Florida or Michigan, while Biden has a reasonable shot at all three. If for no other reason, this is why he should not be the nominee.
8
We have a nasty curmudgeon for a President. We don’t need another one in Sanders. I’ll take Joe Biden’s optimism and collegiality anytime.
14
H. Clinton lost in 2016 in part because relentless efforts by the Republicans at character assassination of her and Bill had been largely successful. The character assassination that has been carried out against the word “socialism” in the USA over more than a century has been hugely successful. It seems to me that Bernie is too big and too dangerous a bet. The country simply can not afford another four years of Trump.
7
Winning the office does not mean that one can dictate what will happen. All legislation originates in the Congress. All revenue changes and budgets originate in the House. The Congress can prevent the President from creating the kinds of programs which Sanders wants. Executive orders can be reversed easily.
Sanders needs to fill up the Congress with members who agree whole heartedly with him if he’s going to avoid the compromises his supporters loath.
1
If those are the policy goals, then drop the words "revolution" and "radical" and Sanders would be on better footing. Pretty up the tone. Embellish the message into one that is aspirational instead of harsh.
1
"It doesn’t take a radical to embrace the idea that people ought to be able to have and care for their families whether they are rich or poor, nor a revolutionary to see that making such provisions universal is the fair and just thing to do."
I also agree with that sentiment but it also takes a radical to ignore the reality that all federally funded programs require a bill to be passed in Congress to achieve their political vision.
Even if we miraculously gained four Democrat seats in the Senate in 2020, giving us a majority of one, there's still a sufficient number of Democrats in the Senate who oppose many of Sen. Sanders big ticket proposals and most notably his particular version of Medicare for All which is dead in the water in terms of getting it passed in the Senate.
Any dream, however noble, eventually turns in to a bitter pill to swallow if you can't get it over the hill and down the other side to where the people you promised are waiting.
2
I will vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who it becomes, will Bernie supporters do the same?
8
If Sanders is the opposite of Trump, why do many of his supporters say they will either vote Trump if Sanders is not the nominee or will sit out the election?
9
@reader Because we want change. Real change. The sort of family values Elizabeth Bruenig wrote about. What we are sick of every election holding our nose to vote for centrist Democrats who maintain the status quo and serve their wealth donors instead of us. We are sick of Democrats calling us "Bernie Bros" for daring to want a better future for our country.
The centrist Democrats have made perfectly clear that they will never support progressive policies.
Besides, you spent 3 years making it perfectly clear that the only thing you care about is defeating Trump and the Republicans. You don't care about anything, or anyone, else. If you won't have our backs on the inspiring vision and many policies we care about, why should we have your back on the sole thing you care about? Your hatred of Trump and Team Red is your biggest and most obvious vulnerability. Some voted for Biden purely on "electability". Well, I don't see any moves left other than making sure Mr. Electability doesn't get elected.
Bruenig wrote a beautiful article about how progressive policies are realistic and are family values. What she wrote about impacts our lives. You are winning the primaries. And yet all you can do is complain about Bernie and shot Bruenig down. You are not at all open to persuasion or negotiation.
This isn't a reasoned discussion between adults. This is a Mexican standoff.
This is such a great article. It's novel to read anything at the NY Times that I agree with. It's novel to read anyone talk about family values. Most politics I hear is about defeating Trump or cutting taxes, not about how public policy will impact the average family. Most people I know in my social circle (I'm in my 30s) are completely career focused and many show active disinterest in ever having a family. Otherwise, I honestly though I was the only person out there who though this way.
My politics is largely about the family values you describe. When it comes to economics, all that matters is that we have an economy so that people can raise a family. Whether I support tax cuts or Medicare for All entirely follows from this. I support gay marriage because I support gay families and want same sex couples included in the institution of marriage. Otherwise, my politics is about keeping the government out of people's private lives when it comes to social issues.
I'm 36 and single. I work constantly and move around a lot. Without a secure stable job and an affordable start homes, not to mention regulations on work hours, I can't start a family. Single payer healthcare for when I'm in between jobs would be a big help too. The idea that Medicare for All is unrealistic when it exists in other countries is maddening.
I think this message is too little too late and not persuasive to centrist Democrats. But I completely agree with it.
1
Bernie wants a revolution, or so he says. Frankly, I don't know anyone who, besides Bernie, who wants a revolution. Maybe we
want some changes, and we hope for people to be honest, and
pray they want be cruel to their neighbors. I'd like a president who believes he's President of all the citizens of the country, not just the ones he picks as friends, the ones he wants out of jail.
I don't believe that Bernie would be able to work with Congress--that would be tough for Bernie to do.
9
The title of this piece is 'How Bernie Sanders Can Still Win It All'. Bernie Sanders will never win it all if he believes he can ignore democratic moderate voices. And even if he wins the presidency this still applies. Democrats have always thought of themselves as a big tent and Bernie makes that tent smaller when he attacks the very people who must help him attain what he wants.
12
As Garry Kasparov said in his piece on CNN today, I along with many Americans am turned off/alarmed by Bernie's comments about how there are good things to learn from Communism, such as healthcare and education for all: "Talking about the health care and literacy in socialist dictatorships is like admiring how clean everything was on the Death Star in Star Wars.There is free health care in prison, but it's still a prison. What value is literacy if you're told what you can and cannot read?"
4
@Elizabeth
Communism was such a prison for Kasparov that he was allowed to go all over the world to play chess and trash Russia in the process - the same Russia which incidentally still pays him a very generous monthly pension to this day, despite his wealth.
In order to win, Sanders needs to do something that Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, each in her day, failed to do:
Articulate a detailed vision of the United States of America that he proposes to transform into existence. What it would look like. In terms of benefits, although also taxation costs and effects on entrepreneurship, business generation, and standard of living. Why, all in all, is this a country that a voter with little history of radicalism would want to live in? It will take a vision that generates genuine inspiration, to defeat Trump, win the Congress, and put America on the beginning of the right track.
3
@Eric L.
Warren had detailed plans. Nobody wanted to read them When she started talking about her plans, people said she was too professorial and yelly.
If you have no detailed plans, then you get reamed for not detailing how you're going to do anything.
You can't win no matter what you do. Unless of course, you're Joe Biden. Then you don't need a plan. You don't need a vision. You can just yell repeatedly that you're more electable while you stand beside some old black people.
1. For most voters I know it wasn't a panicked flurry - they were simply relieved to get their marching orders.
2. I have several friends that loved Warren who won't vote Sanders.
3. Massive attacks on each other would be supremely unwise - one candidate or the other has to try to invite the opposite's voters in for the general. Harder to do when you've basically called them idiots for voting for such a bad guy.
4. 'Normie'? Really? Maybe just drop that right now. Literally right now.
7
@Lauren
If you need "marching orders" on who to vote for, then you shouldn't have the right to vote in my opinion.
1
I'm thrilled to death that the Times has an op-ed writer who doesn't have a visceral revulsion to Bernie and all the good things he stands for. Will wonders never cease?
6
"America’s favorite radical is a family values candidate in disguise."
The "disguise," or branding -- the S-word -- is the fundamental problem.
never bernie.
6
Bernie has no shot
8
The thing that really burns me about Bernie fans is that they don’t seem to get that this next election may determine whether or not we ever get to have another election. This next election is about Democracy vs Tyranny. The Republican Party has crossed the Rubicon and has shown us over the past four years how corrupt and demonic their authoritarian rule would be.
Yes, the Democratic Party is flawed and could use significant reform. But this is not the time to be fighting that battle and prioritizing significant upheaval re our social safety net, health care, college tuition, etc. Yes I would like to see all those things happen. BUT if Trump wins this next one we will precipitously decline on all fronts of things re basic human rights and any benefits whatever for ordinary people.
The Democratic Party is our only hope right now. Let us seize it with both hands, support it, nurture it and the good people in it, despite their flaws. It’s all hands on deck time. This is an emergency.
18
I wonder how many demonstrations of the fact that the majority of Democratic voters profoundly disagree with Bernie's formulation of American policy, and also of the nature of the conversation within the Democratic Party, for Ms. Bruenig to understand that we, the majority of this left-center party, simply think that Bernie is wrong for and dangerous to the country and to the interests both of the country and of the interests of the Democratic party! Call me names if you will. Call me a capitalistic tool, or an establishment something or other. One of the things I really hate about the Bernie peeps is that they sound just like Trump! I'm so tired of that kind of language! When Bernie stops talking about conspiracies trying to undermine him, I might pay attention, but since he's been mining this lode for several decades, I'm not holding my breath.
10
Sanders is Trump's favorite opponent. That tells me that Sanders does not have a hope. Whatever else Trump is, he is certainly clever and has street smarts. On the other hand, Trump will not do well against Biden. The comments that Biden is like Hillary are off base, since we have seen what a mess Trump has made of the US and its relation to our allies. Trump is unfit for the office he holds. It is that simple. Trump must be defeated in November 2020. And I hope the GOP and McConnell go down as well.
6
These ideas are all great. Bernie has zero chance of making them happen.
Bernie's going to drive away suburban voters faster than coronavirus. His surge of young voters is too busy making memes to vote. He has no path to victory.
Biden with the right Congress easily could make any or all of these things closer to reality. Win the White House, flip the Senate then make some progressive change.
Nominating a socialist who stomps and screams until he's literally purple isn't the way.
9
Sen. Sanders can’t win the White House. The United States’ electorate isn’t ready for a “Democratic-Socialist”, whatever that is or turns out to be. Unless our current President D. J. Trump mentally self-destructs, and Russian president Vladimir Putin discards him, his transactional personal corruption will win out. As for holding another Impeachment trial and convicting Trump and subsequently removing him from office — his — we already saw how that first Impeachment turned out. Too many incumbent Republican senators felt too much partisan political pressure to vote to convict him, or even to properly try him. So they fell into line and acquitted him. But the bottom line is that Sen. Sanders can’t win the White House, any more than I can, and I’m not running.
3
Good strategy. But it may be too late to turn things around. I'm afraid he is stuck with the narrative of communist bernie, even if it absurd.
3
Yes, by all means - have Bernie attack Biden more! Maybe Biden can fight back at Bernie, too! Perfect! That will give Trump even more ammo (as if he needed it) for whomever is the eventual nominee.
8
Sanders is in his late seventies with a heart condition. If he catches the Corona virus it's over for him. Biden is at risk too, given his age even though he has no heart condition as far as we know. Both had better someone waiting in the wings to take over the campaign immediately if necessary. Come to think of it: The same holds for Trump.
2
Thank you for the sane, sensible and accurate remarks. Explanations of "revolution" and "democratic socialism" that indeed outline humane and compassionate policies and plans--ones that are already in place in many other thriving, democratic countries--would logically appeal to anybody but billionaires and their less wealthy male white supremacists.
3
Elizabeth, none of these programs are ‘free’.
3
@Bluecheer So what? They are services I pay for with my taxes. You get what you pay for right? So why did I get a refund rather than Bernie's child care plan? I think these programs are great, and would be thrilled to have my taxes raised to pay for them.
4
Depends on how much you pay in taxes.
Between the two, my heart says Bernie but my brain says Biden. I love Bernie's vision in principle but I just don't see how he can get any of it done. I don't think even many Democratic congresspersons would go along with his ideas. He doesn't seem like much of a compromiser or consensus builder. And trump has already burned the label SOCIALIST into his flesh with his red hot propaganda iron. It is already all over Youtube. As for Biden, I'm just uninspired. I don't see him doing much as president to fight climate change and income inequality, or improve our medical system significantly. I do think he is a genuinely good person. In the end, he just seems like the safer choice to free us all from the purgatory of trump.... if he can keep his wife and sister straight.
1
Bernie equals free stuff. Please check the national debt - now totaling $23 trillion,with annual interest payments of nearly $500 billion. There is NO MORE money available for free stuff.
3
@John Galligan Bernie doesn't offer free stuff. He offers quality services that I pay for with my tax dollars. I'm eager to pay, spare no expense.
4
Stop with the ‘Democrats give away “free stuff”’ argument. The Republicans give the petroleum and other extractive industries just about anything they could ever dream of wanting—allowing them to degrade and destroy incalculable value that belongs to everyone for the sake of making billions for themselves. The Republicans protect the profits of the gun industry and the most parasitic and counterproductive aspects of our healthcare “industry“—thereby costing us money among other harms. I could go on. The long and short of it is that the Republicans give away, for the sake of re-election and their own personal profit, not for the benefit of the nation or humanity, tons of “free stuff”.
1
This is a reasonable argument. But it neglects to consider that this goes against the grain of Sanders' shtick. Everything Sanders' wants is reasonable. And with the right candidate, their pursuit could be achievable. But Sanders is not that candidate. He's too crusty. Too shouty. Don't get me wrong, his shtick works for me. I love the guy. He's like family. But he and I share a similar ethno-cultural background that is foreign to most Americans.
1
Ms. Bruenig, as has Mr. Sanders since Tuesday, talks persuasively about a wide range of important social issues. Both miss the lesson of Tuesday: Democratic voters in 2020 are single-issue.
"It's beating Trump, stupid."
On Tuesday, rightly or wrongly, a stampede of last minute deciders gave that issue to Biden by a landslide. Had there had been no early voting...OMG.
Bernie mocks "same old, same old". Fine. But live as a loose cannon, die as a loose cannon.
6
Bernie wins the nomination and we lose in November. It's that simple. Trump will hang him with his "democratic socialist" label. Surveys of what hypothetical category they would vote for breaks down as "Black: 96%, Catholic: 95% Hispanic: 95%, Woman: 94%... at the bottom of the list is "a socialist" 47%. We absolutely cannot afford Bernie getting the Democratic nomination. This country cannot afford another four years of Trump and a Bernie primary win is a loss in November.
3
Reminds me of Ross Perot in 1992 - even though he was a billionaire. He said that,”he wants to be a grain of sand that irritates the oyster and helps produce the pearl”.
If that’s what Bernie ends up doing, great!
1
My problem with our Democratic Party is this, they push incrementalism down the throats of the poor and the middle-class, doing so for decades, creating massive inequality, opting for the kind of change which, while promising much, they still only deliver somewhat larger, but still stale, breadcrumbs.
Joe Biden is obviously better than Trump and any Republican, but to ignore certain of his past attempts to cut Social Security benefits and other programs which benefit the poor and the middle-class is pure folly.
See Intercept excerpted reports and link, especially the insistent tone he took -
"AS EARLY AS 1984 and as recently as 2018, former Vice President Joe Biden called for cuts to Social Security in the name of saving the program and balancing the federal budget. Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted Biden’s record on Social Security in prosecuting the case that Biden isn’t the most electable candidate."
"When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security as well,” he told the Senate in 1995. “I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits. I meant every single solitary thing in the government. And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time, and I tried it a fourth time.”"
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
I see Biden as the latest attempt by our Republican-Lite Pelosi Schumer democrats to return to power, exclusively for their own, and their corporate masters benefit.
10
Choosing Sanders as the democratic front runner is liking evaluating a hemorrhaging patient for plastic surgery. Instead, we need a surgeon (Biden) to expel the patient’s bludgeoner (Trump) and stabilize the dying patient (our democracy).
To young voters- please don’t mistake the upcoming presidential election as an exercise in self expression and promoting idealized notions of governance. It’s not about YOU. Put your ego and self righteousness aside for a moment and consider the fate of the polity as a whole.
5
Sorry but I would never trust Joe Biden to perform surgery of any kind even if you only meant it metaphorically.
1
Oh, it’s over. There was no way Sanders was going to get enough support to totally upend this country. Out first priority is to get rid of Trump, not government. Our second priority is keep the House, take back the Senate in order to return this country to normalcy. Praising Fidel Castro, telling people how they will get their healthcare and how much money they can earn is not pathway to success. It’s a pathway to socialism. And the face of this movement is a crotchety, grimacing old white man. Oh, it’s over.
5
Sanders and his crowd are mistaken. They are not attracting a high number of new adherents who will vote them into office. The extra turnout has favored Biden.
Sanders has moral courage. He should recognize that at this point his movement will only divide Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and disaffected Republicans. Sanders should therefore end his campaign and support Biden in exchange for Biden revising his platform to call for a much more ambitious program for infrastructure and green-energy, one in which Sanders' people will play a key role.
That would be called a coalition. We need one and to stay focused on the most important thing, which is not merely removing Trump from office, but ending Republican misrule. They are a minority faction but control our government nearly everywhere. That must end. If Sanders really cares, he will join a massive, Biden-led coalition to end their tyranny over us. They are a menace to our country, the world, and literally life as we know it on Earth, and defeating them must be our priority.
4
One would hope that Warren and Sanders are making deals with Biden or the DNC as we comment away.
2
Obstinacy, extremism and denial of cause and effect are not characteristics we need in a president right now. We already have an excess of that currently, and don't need just another version of it. Sanders cost the Democrats the last election, and unless he recognize that, he will cost us this election.
It's a mistake to label Biden the "safe pick". He's the pick that appeals to the greatest majority of Americans, who are moderates. Not "status quo" moderates, but people who recognize that the last three years of convulsing government is not productive.
I've spoken to many moderate Republicans who are repulsed by ConDon and his henchmen, and who look forward to voting for Biden. They confirm, however, that they would vote for Trump rather than vote for Sanders.
3
Please stop defending/promoting Mr. Sanders' progressive policies. That is not the point. Many of us might prefer some of Bernie's programs. A few of us might have preferred Elizabeth Warren. It doesn't matter. No progressive candidates replaced any Republicans in 2018. There are no progressive candidates that will replace any Republican senators in the 2020 election. There is no progressive groundswell in the US and there is no evidence that any of these programs will be enacted in either a Sanders presidency or a Biden presidency. What is discouragingly evident is that progressives would rather fight with moderates than help ensure that Donald Trump is not re-elected. The progressive surge in primary voters did not occur. The only progressives to win in 2018 replaced Democrats, not Republicans. Folks, you are fighting the wrong war.
7
How Bernie Sanders could win:
If the Democratic Party in all the states permitted to vote in the primaries. In most states, they do not permit that. They do that in California and notice that Sanders won by a considerable margin.
1
I want what Bernie promises. I just don't believe he can make it happen. I will settle for less and I would rather have less with Joe than the end of the American dream that four more years of Trump would undoubtedly deliver.
1
From the article: Still, it isn’t over for Mr. Sanders. Super Tuesday does not reverse his victories in the earlier primaries, and Nevada in particular bodes well for his appeal among Latino voters, who are a key demographic in several undecided states.
News flash... Sanders lost Texas, a state that has very strong Latino representation in the voters.
News Flash... the first few primaries and caucus events have not meant anything for a couple of decades now. Super Tuesday is where the primary season for Democrats is galvanized. Which is why Sanders wanted so very bad to knock it out of the park on Super Tuesday...so he could force the other candidates to drop out. How'd that work out for Sanders..... I'll answer for you ---> badly.
Now... Biden has all the momentum, and Sanders is back on his heels at the moment AND is facing very real declining poll numbers in an very important state next week - Michigan - where Biden continues to surge and receive important state level endorsements.
5
I will vote for any democrat nominated. however, most of my colleagues and acquaintances tell me they plan to vote for Biden but would pick trump over Bernie. that is why Biden won on Tuesday. that is critical. In Texas 1.9 million voted for trump in an uncontested primary. Bernie got 700 thousand votes and Biden about 100 thousand more than that. throw Warren and others and it still did not top Trumps votes. the candidate has to pull in the independents and moderates and Bernie can't get them. PS the flaw in this article is that Bernie is perceived as wanting to tell people what there family should be not what they are and that is a non starter with many Americans.
2
It is nearly superfluous how the southern states voted since it is a safe bet than in the national election they will go for trump. What is critical is how the swing states will vote and the only test we have so far is W. Virginia and that is only with Democrats voting. With Bernie we may wind up wish a radical we can't sell and with Biden another Hillary Clinton. We should have chosen Warren.
America has Medicare; Medicaid; Social security and a myriad of social safety nets. A smart progressive with a good strategy can build on that now that the electorate is more open to making these policies stronger for the poor and middle class. Sanders wants a revolution, but he is too old to lead one, and the country needs what it has to rather work better.
I have always said that I am for Bernie because he reflects the values I was raised with. I’m so glad you share that sentiment and put it so eloquently and persuasively in your piece.
6
Sanders should have dropped out and endorsed Warren. I can't help but think about what a great ticket we might have had if Sanders hadn't run. Once he got in the race, his supporters closed their minds to every other possibility resulting in some really good candidates never getting a look. I am a Warren voter who will not be transferring my allegiance to Bernie's ego, unless he's the nominee.
2
Thanks for this thoughtful article. I’m also curious what Michelle Alexander might have to say about the final contenders in this primary contest, so I hope she pens an opinion piece soon.
“Our entire political system is financed by wealthy private interests buying politicians and making sure the rules are written in their favor.”
— Michelle Alexander
5
Sanders has a choice to make,..in one he could possibly go down in history as the great hero of the progressive movement. By strongly backing Biden now, reassured by Joe that once elected democrats will tilt toward single payer over time, and calling for unity, Bernie will not only get much of what he wants, but Trump will be gone.
But, if Bernie chooses to play the spoiler and sore loser, rolling the dice on the nomination, while egging on his more radical supporters, much as Nader did, in the fantasy that somehow the perfect really is the enemy of the good, he can be the tipping point that keeps Trump in the white house and the senate and house in republican hands. This would make him, like Nader, one of histories saddest figures.
The third choice is for both candidates to agree now, that whoever has the most delegates wins, (keeping out super-dekegates) and that the runner up will enthusiastically and wholeheartedly endorse and campaign for the winner. This mollifies many supporters on both sides and allows for a spirited and hopefully civil debate, focused on getting Trump out.
2
Why is nobody interested in the number of people who actually voted at the caucuses in Nevada? I could not wait the 2 plus hours to do so. Bernie got about 14,000 votes out of the entire state, hardly "sweeping" Nevada.
Biden will bring all the Dems together including Culinary come November to defeat Trump.
4
"Mr. Sanders needs to make the case that funding them [his programs] federally and making them available to all parents is wise, possible and not at all unusual."
Maybe the fact that Mr. Sanders has not been able to adequately make this case should tell us something. And maybe the very diverse coalition of voters that turned out for Biden in SC and Super Tuesday states has figured this out.
2
Bernie's poor Super Tuesday performance should finally put to rest the fantasy - repeatedly asserted without evidence - that that hoards of enthusiastic young voters will magically appear and carry him to the White House in November. The passion may be there, but the requisite numbers aren't.
Vladimir Putin and the Republican establishment are quite savvy and have shown they know how to obtain and hold onto power. There is a reason they are backing Sanders.
Although I don't see his proposals for free college tuition and Medicare for all as necessarily dangerous, his candidacy most certainly is. The preponderance of evidence, past and present, strongly suggests that Trump will beat him and put everything Bernie believes in out of reach for a generation.
6
It seems at times that the Democratic party is about to split. I don't think our two-party system is mandated by law. No Democrat (is willing to say he) wants to see that happen now, but once we have a "B" in the White House, moderates and liberals should think about it. Initially the GOP would benefit, but eventually you'd have found a way to coax the largest turnout of moderate and liberal voters to come to the polls.
In a three party system, the moderates could run on the promise that half the country won't have to kneel in a public square and confess its privilege, a la Chinese Cultural Revolution. Liberals could agree to forego the sandwich signs and dunce caps as long as the other parties voted with them on very specific issues, such as beginning to chip away at the $4T healthcare monster, which involves insurance and pharma, yes indeed, but also many sectors that heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday morning.
Comparisons:
There was almost no red on the 2011 Canadian electoral map. Now Trudeau 2 is PM.
Bernie lacks at least one of Corbyn's supposed liabilities, already.
Any suggestions for Queen?
We need to repair Trump's destruction first before launching any kind of 'revolution', ie, transition before transformation.
3
@Joel Li
Biden will use his entire 4 years cleaning up Trump’s mess, and then they’ll elect another Republican.
Bernie had four years to appeal to moderates and blacks and he didn't get it done. Black voters backed Biden in large numbers and other Dems followed their lead. The handwriting is on the wall. Biden will be the Democratic nominee, regardless of anyone's opinion. That will become apparent in the next few weeks.
The task at hand is to find a running mate who broadens the appeal of the ticket and motivates Dems to turn out en masse and vote their whole ballot blue from top to bottom in November.
5
@Scott Matthews
Biden had 8 years from the seat of the VP's office, while Sanders was only one Senator.
Prior to that, Biden had 30-something years and many Republican friends that should have helped him pass the progressive legislation he claims to believe in. He got nothing progressive done.
He's run for president twice before, in eras where he faced far more civil opponents than Trump. He failed both those times.
Yet suddenly he's going to get his act together and win against Trump? Get real. Trump's approval rating is higher than Obama's.
3
The policies of other countries do not amount to evidence that those policies could work in a different context. Europe has a different history and culture to the US.
4
These policies are fairly standard in other countries outside the EU. Canada, for one, is very similar to the US, and it works.
3
I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but I hope Warren’s supporters do not “turn to Mr. Sanders” and that Joe wins the nomination in a landslide. It seems pretty clear, especially today, that the only viable avenue to run Donald Trump out of D.C. is Joe Biden. And Donald Trump knows that; if we think Trump has been nasty to date, just wait.
6
Ms. Bruenig, You are whistling past the graveyard. While Joe Biden may be past his "use by" date, the Democratic electorate have spoken. Bernie would have done far worse on Tuesday if there had not been early voting. The prime concern of almost all Democrats is, and should be, defeating Donald Trump. A week ago, it was unclear which candidate had the best chance of doing that. Once the contest narrowed down to Bernie and Biden, the choice is obvious.
6
I believe this comment should be read by more people (thank you the commenter Claudio from Orlando for the prompt)
Very sensible to state what should be obvious but isn’t to so many people.
When I started reading the OpEd, I said to myself, but isn’t this all clear to everyone? I quickly understood that my question to myself was the problem.
The unfortunate ideology of our nation which has been force fed to us as the famous American rhetoric and Dream is the culprit.
Most of us have lost the ability to think for ourselves and compare our system with others as objectively as possible.
We do not do that. When the Finnish President, a young and well-educated woman says what the author quotes, we don’t understand the irony.
Bernie Sanders is a wonderful man who wants to give us Rawlsian Justice. One on which we will go to sleep without worrying who we wake up as. With healthcare, education, childcare, clean water and air, living wage and long-term care worries out of our collective and individual minds.
Reminding everyone around us that what Bernie wants for us is what we actually want for ourselves and our loved ones.
Thank you Elizabeth for reminding us.
9
These "Radical" policies are normal programs in the rest of the developed world. The political "Revolution" is having politicians enact policies that help 90% of Americans. The "Socialism" is the express purpose of the Constitution: "We the people...to promote the common good, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity". Sanders needs to reframe his candidacy toward words that regualr people understand- normal, good, proven policies that work for regular people.
5
Excellent column. I agree that Bernie needs to emphasize that all he wants for America is what Finns have, the American dream. This does mean he needs to tone down the rhetoric of 'revolution' and 'socialism'. Indeed, if a social democratic agenda like Bernie's ever was enacted, it would constitute a revolution of sorts, but Americans are fearful and self-contradictory: they want changes that make the society fairer, a good many want to beat Trump, but when faced with the prospect of significant change, they start to quake and run for the safest choice, the known quantity. So Bernie needs to make it easier for them to embrace the change he represents by telling them what that would concretely mean: access to child care, education and health care for all, for starters.
5
Well, thank you for at least a respectful and engaging opinion on Bernie Sanders and his tireless effort to lift the working and middle classes of America with concrete benefits instead of trickle-down manna from on high.
Focusing on childcare is a reminder that children grow up fast, either in good or bad circumstances. Those born today will be four years old by the next presidential and congressional election cycle and indelibly imprinted by the care they receive. If anybody cares, it would be better for us all if their health, intellectual and social markers were on the high side instead of the low.
1
There is no win-it-all for Sanders.
I'm a Warren supporter and I will vote for Biden.
Reason is very simple: Sanders remind me of Trump, the left-wing version of Trump.
Unable to compromise, unable to listen, toxic fan base, "my way is the correct way", practicing divisive politics rather than winning hear-and-mind.
Enough is enough.
25
@Tri P
Are you confused? You're voting for policies, not the candidate's supporters.
3
I'm not for Joe Biden because he is the "safe pick". I am for Joe Biden because he is the "right pick". When the Democratic Party is successful, it succeeds because it makes room for a broad and diverse array of people inside its tent. Bernie Sanders can be the spoiler, but he can not win in November. We need a candidate who can unite this Country and pull votes away from our current President. Time to join hands, move forward, and take our Country back. (and it is certainly not time to attack our own allies, and dream up new tests of progressive purity)
9
How about this: Bernie, who is unconventional anyway, should pick a running mate SOON. Preferably female, with an ability to articulate the concerns of working moms, families who are facing huge college costs, dealing with FAFSA Forms, etc. Also.... speak to baby boomers who have aging parents to care for, and emphasize the HOME CARE feature in Bernie's Medicare For All proposal.People over 65 will listen to someone who can really zero in on the tremendous burdens we boomers are facing with our parents. Bernie, get busy and get your VP in line!
5
@maureen fischer
Bernie could pick Stacey but he already lost the southern states and won't need them in the general election as those are all red states that Trump wins.
Apparently the cowed black voters are happy with the status quo that's responsible for keeping them down. No revolution for them.
If Bernie chose Steve Bannon he'd subtract many Trump voters and stir up the race. It would be a smart strategy for Bernie to take off his velvet gloves and go head-to-head with the status quo.
On the other hand if Trump chose Bernie for VP, he'd get all the Progressives side by side with his 63,000,000 Trumpsters and win in a landslide. Since Trump is a genius at staying alive, he might do that - the anti-establishment with the anti-status quo - two natural allies.
I would like to suggest too, that a Biden win is by no means a sure thing: no one seems to be entertaining the prospect that Trump's well-healed and powerful juggernaut support groups in and out of the administration may be overwhelmingly prepared to paint Joe Biden as a corrupt politician who used his political position to gain personal wealth by manipulating a foreign government.
We also know that Trump presents himself almost daily as the victim of an unprecedented attack on the office of his presidency and turning Biden into the true villain of American political corruption will serve the perfect deception aiding writing a new fictional history of the Trump presidency and advancing his election prospects for 2020.
Any thinking person knows that this scenario does not need to hold nearly any shred of truth to be effective. The fictional narrative above will be shouted from the campaign podiums and cable networks and no attempt to explain away the lies is likely to change enough minds.
Perhaps a Democratic Socialist who is more humble about a revolution and more aspirational about what our future may hold might not be so risky a candidate.
4
I am a Republican. I will tell you why I oppose Bernie and these social programs. I do not trust our government. If they can provide you with everything you need, they also have the power to take it away. Then what. We fought for independence from a monarchy. I don’t care what you tell me about the so-called benefits government should not be in my life any more than it has to be. I don’t necessarily like Trump but I will not vote for more government influence over my life.
5
We left England to build representative democracy. And government of and by the American Oligarchy has already taken almost everything away. Time to fight for our Constitution. Fight for actual healthcare. Fight for climate future. Fight for Sanders.
5
Another campaign commercial from Ms. B. loosely camouflaged as journalism? Put that aside for a moment. It's not so much his proposals, it's him. It's Bernie Sanders.
He, not the so-called "establishment" you and your hero lambaste, chose the term"revolution". He not mainstream Dems like me, chose even now ("60 Minutes") to reflexively find something nice to say about Fidel. It's him who refuses to admit impracticality in his sweeping very expensive proposals needing 60 Senate votes. A "revolutionary" leading a crusade concedes nothing and despises accomodation even if Trump beats him like a drum. You can urge that his campaign must talk proposals until the proverbial cows come home, but you can't make Sanders warm and likable.
14
@Unworthy Servant
My words, somehow dripping from your fingers!
Thank you, very, very well said!
"It seems to me that Mr. Sanders will have to overcome his reluctance to go on the attack, and to condemn Mr. Biden emphatically for his political record (encouragingly, Mr. Sanders does appear prepared to take up that line) and for corruption and impropriety. "
This is highly dangerous strategy. I'm a Warren supporter who is much closer to Bernie than the other candidates, but it is hard how to see how he'll get even 45% of the delegates, much less 50%.
Which means Biden is the nominee, with Bernie essentially having made a case for staying home and not voting [however much Bernie tries to explain 'that's not what he meant', his supporters will take it that way and continue denigrating Biden.
The time to protest Biden is after he gets elected, which doesn't mean I won't be making snarky remarks in the next 8 months. The DNC has been much better behaved this round. Let's not have 4 more years of Trump.
4
Alas, the popular programs in other advanced nations come at a price Americans are not willing the bear: higher federal income taxes, especially for those not poor enough to pay nothing, nor those rich enough to also pay pretty much nothing, but for the shrinking and stressed people at the center of the income range where it’s difficult to avoid paying taxes.
Yes, taxes are higher in Scandinavia, although perhaps not as high as many Americans believe, and things we just don’t have or Scandinavians don’t pay for separately somehow don’t get accounted for, like childcare or domestic heat and hot water.
Money is just a part of the issue, though, because for decades Americans have been carefully and relentlessly taught that the federal government is too inept and corrupt to manage any programs and anything it turns its hand to is a huge boondoggle. This, too is an excuse.
The real difference, and the reason a candidate like Bernie can’t or won’t explain “how they’re going to pay for social programs” is that we have two giant expenses standing in the way of everything else: interest on the national debt and the limitless cost of being the world’s policeman.
Next time someone says we cannot afford childcare or free tuition at state and local colleges, the answer should be: we cannot afford a new aircraft carrier and we cannot afford the latest fighter jets. Too expensive. We cannot afford hundreds of military bases around the world. We can scrimp on subs and rockets. Try.
6
Given its title, I expected this piece to make serious case for why Bernie would be the stronger candidate.
Unfortunately, alI I got is just more lists of social programs Bernie can add to make wary voters even more wary.
Maybe the guy should first work harder to sell the expensive social programs sitting uncomfortably on voter's mind before adding to the pile.
5
Two different strategy suggestions
1) work to win the AfricanAmerican vote. Do not pull out of the South, move there and articulate what benefits everyone, but they in particular, will lose if Biden returns us to 2015. He needs to win their vote for November, and needs to show that he can now.
2) cut a deal with Biden, perhaps some incremental step towards a Sanders goal, and delegate Warren to see it to fruition in a Biden administration. Unity starting now, with a pragmatic victory for his cause ... and eight months to make the Democratic case before November.
1
Bernie Sanders is clearly the choice to make Trump look like what he is. Bernie is the choice for “the minority” of which every single person, that puts they’re boots on everyday, to go into the trenches to work, represents. We are ALL minorities in this!
3
So, why doesn’t passion produce the huge pro Sanders surge in voter turnout that he keeps claiming will carry him to victory over Trump. The only surges in the primaries have been in support of Biden.
4
It shouldn’t be hard to imagine all the things you mention, Ms. Gruening, if one is well-educated, feeling financially secure, and has never lived outside an urban environment. Maybe someone like you. But there are way too many voters who don’t fit that description to build a consensus that can beat Trump.
5
@Mark Frisbie Most of the people I know who support Senator Sanders are well-educated but far from financially secure. They live in largely rural areas, and they worry about whether they - or their children -- will ever get out from under college debt, or if they'll have a medical emergency that sends them into bankruptcy where they'll lose everything they've worked for. Senator Sanders has heard these concerns, Biden has helped to create them.
3
I have a PhD and I’m voting for Sanders. Please take a look at his programs. I had great, free healthcare while I lived in Europe. And zero student debt. Let’s pull together and do the same thing here. All it takes is public will.
5
With the market crash and the Corona crisis the only way the Democrats can lose this election is by nominating someone too far left.
His name is Bernie Sanders.
12
quote
Super Tuesday does not reverse his victories in the earlier primaries, and Nevada in particular bodes well for his appeal among Latino voters
unquote
does anyone know what % of registered voters turned out for the Nevada Caucus ?
**four percent**
which, iirc, is what happened in 2016: when there is a caucus, and no one shows up, a small committed group can win
I got the 4% by looking at the vote total, and the total registered voters from the Sec of State
I maybe off by a % or so, but the point stands
4
Does anyone believe that Sanders can ever get his agenda through Congress at this time.? They are still suing and courts are still listening to the law suits against a modest Affordable Care Act after almost 9 years of it being passed. Sanders has good ideas but timing is not right.
First and Last priority. Get rid of dangerous current President first. Then follow your agenda
7
Biden IS for 12 weeks of paid family leave and he is also for universal pre K. He is also for health programs to reduce maternal mortality in childbirth and for child health. He would increase the child tax credit as well. https://qz.com/1809767/where-democratic-candidates-stand-on-childcare-and-family-leave/
7
@Daniel Wagle
And how is going to pay for that or get it passed? In 40 years, he hasn't spearheaded one single piece of progressive legislation.
1
@Viv Biden certainly supported the Affordable Care Act, but now wants to improve upon it. He supported the original family leave act when Clinton was President, but now wants that leave to be paid, rather than unpaid. Biden is for reversing the Trump tax cuts and this would probably provide much of the funding for his programs. His healthcare plan would not cost the government as much as Medicare for All, since his plan would not eliminate all private financing of the system, which actually is now quite huge. But actually our public financing of our system is now quite huge as well. This loss of all private financing would have to be made up by increased taxes, unless we wanted to drastically cut reimbursement rates to providers.
Uh, sorry girl but Bernie Sanders NEVER had a chance to "win it all" and he most certainly does NOT have one now. In case you missed it, there was a thing called SUPER TUESDAY a few days ago.
11
For Bernie to win, turnout by young voters would have to be epic - and it’s not - even with the slate of free stuff they can’t seem to get it together to get up and “Stick it to the Man”. Why is that?
9
The subtitle says it all. Bernie is a “family values candidate in disguise.” Isn’t that they problem right there?
Disguises don’t work when people get there news sound bites from the tv or social media.
4
What happens when you schedule a Revolution and no one shows up?
That's what happened on Tuesday.
We aren't going to risk a repeat of Tuesday this November 3rd. The stakes are much too high.
8
"voters delivered a more modest outcome" than the Sanders campaign had hoped for. A modest outcome? He got creamed.
7
I find it so disingenuous how people circle the wagons to protect weak candidates like Joe Biden and HRC when it comes to problems in their respective records for fear of what could come out and how it could be used in the GE. Some of those same folks were likely the one’s making hay out of Bernie’s Cuba comments with complete disregard about electability. Frankly I think Hunter is a liability in a GE and no NYT “Hunter is an artist” puff piece is going to change that.
6
This is an irresponsible column. In reality, Sanders does not have a path forward. But according to Bruenig, he should attack Biden relentlessly in the midwest until they are both bloody and bedraggled and limping into the Democratic convention. Sorry -- that's not going to save Sanders. All it will do is help Trump.
14
@Peter
Sadly, Sanders is already attacking Biden relentlessly on Social Security. Several of his ads are running in states with upcoming primaries. (I’ve seen them.) For someone who claims to care about the common man, it seems that his ego is more important than anything else.
3
Yes, always “encouraging” when someone is ready to engage in negative campaigning… and sounds like the Russians are trying to help. In fairness, though, I agree that it is high time to hit Joe Biden for his ties to the gun industry and for Hunter’s shady dealings with Burlington College (hello $200,000 golden parachute!).
1
Electing Biden is the equivalent of electing a Clinton or Bush.
4
"Normies?!" Sound like a slur reminiscent of "deplorables." Any opinion based on a sense of superiority is doomed: THAT is the lesson of Hillary and Donald. Warren voter here with approximately zero interest in voting for Bernie in the general election because of the true-believer, bro culture he has generated. Those of us who do not agree with him are not dupes or dullards: we're just a little more willing to meet people where they are. That is to say, recognize that we are all flawed and do not have answers that will work for everyone. The best we can do is to be honest about our own needs and views, while listening hard to understand all the alien others who walk among us.
5
It's over. Sanders is the guy in the red shirt, waiting to beam down to an alien planet. We know what's going to happen. We just don't exactly how or when. But we know.
1
Biden is not the safe pick, he's the right candidate to beat Trump.
6
The Russians support Sanders for Democratic nominee and Trump for president.
Enough said.
7
@David Parsons Not quite enough. Half-joking, but I think that's because Trump & Putin want to scare moderate Dems into Biden's arms because they know Trump can trounce him.
We NEED an "angry old man" to fight Trump!
How sad that the black vote has gone to a familiar face rather than the candidate who would do right by the people.
4
We now have 10 or 11 years before absolutely catastrophic climate change is unavoidable. Biden has no plan to address climate change (the Paris climate accord is woefully inadequate). Another four years without the aggressive actions called for in the Green New Deal and everything else is moot.
It´s up to young voters. If they really do care about their future survival, they have to vote now.
5
He delivered “a more modest outcome?” He got clocked. You want to win the nomination for a party you hate? Get more votes. A few points that have struck me as odd today as a 49-year-old lectured online about how the young people will save us from Trump in the fall, but only if we make Bernie the top of the ticket.
1. The young “voters” he has claimed to engage aren’t voters if they don’t vote. And they didn’t vote.
2. I don’t think Sanders can draw more voters (who show up.) As a Warren fan ... I get the feeling he is just yelling at me. And ignoring black voters, who showed up to vote.
3. There is a Twitter thread today about canceling student debt. If that debt includes loans that have paid for ANYTHING but books and tuition, then I would not consider that “student” debt. A loan taken out by a student that is used to pay for cars, spring break trips, clothes is just a loan and not, IMO, education expenses. I should not have to pay for that. A student loan should be paid directly to the college/university.
4. I still have a hard time with Sanders trying to take over a party he clearly hates.
5. Life is about compromise. A candidate who has been in the Senate as long as he has should realize it. If he doesn’t, that tells me all I need to know.
Having said all that, if Sanders wins the nomination, I will do all in my power to knock on doors and get people to show up and vote for him, as I will do myself.
That, kids, is what the grownups do.
15
Bernie has said the same thing for years, but has barely ever gotten even the smallest program passed in his elected experience. Our health care system needs fixing, for sure, but a plan to obliterate the current companies and start over is insane--the cost, the time, getting anything through the meat grinder in Congress--and that's just for starters. He has ideas but no workable plans--and I couldn't bare to listen to his screaming for 4 years should he survive. He would for sure lose to Trump and we all know how horrible that is.
8
Bernie Sanders just isn't popular with people who actually turn out to vote, and he has not demonstrated an ability to galvanize his voter base to actually go out to the polls. If suburban white women and blacks vote, but young people don't, he has no path forward. The message advocated in this column will not cause the kind of dramatic shift in voting patterns Bernie would need.
That said, one fact remains: America is so polarized, it doesn't really matter who the candidate is. Trump was the republicans' candidate in 2016, and he won. The democrats could nominate a dead trout, and it would get around fifty percent of the vote.
4
Bernie is the most inclusive candidate in the primary - perhaps the most inclusive of any candidate in the half of my life that I've voted (other than Warren). His policies and plans reach every demographic. Heck, even the super-wealth will benefit when the poor and middle-class people can afford more of their products and start small businesses with more $ in their pocket. This vilification of "Angry Bernie and his Bros." is going to have the same effect as "deplorables" - just drive more people to Trump or not to vote at all.
9
"In many countries with economic development comparable to that of the United States, the programs Mr. Sanders has built his candidacy on are mundane facts of life". This statement can only come from someone who is willfully ignorant. None of those countries would tolerate the suppression of all private health insurance, the transfer of a significant portion of the capital of large companies to "the workers", and many other core planks of Bernie's platform.
7
I would rather see Sanders withdraw now instead of ruining Democratic hopes of removing Trump from office. If Sanders wanted to appeal to a broader base, he would stop making foolish empty promises that he could never fulfill: $50 trillion worth of empty promises. He doesn't even try to reach moderates. He just tries to give away freebies to people foolish enough to imagine he can perform.
3
It’s Biden who needs to withdraw. In 2016 the establishment candidate lost. History will repeat itself if Biden is the nominee.
5
I really would like much of Bernie's Plan. How will you pay for Bernie's doubling of the budget. She - and no one else seems to be capable of doing the Math - or in denial. And he wont fess up either. Thats what scares people. The Math.
2
Why is math not a worry when we have a system where companies like Amazon don’t pay a penny in taxes.
3
@Brooklyn Born
Nor is it a worry when we write blank checks to the Pentagon, decade after decade. But redirecting it to actually benefit our citizens? That's just too much money!
3
@Brooklyn Born Who says it isn't a concern. Yang's idea of a vAT was brilliant and someone needs to pursue it.
2
Bernie plays off of the impatience of his base. Real change takes time and a lot of boring work. Revolutions tend to leave a wake of collateral damage.
6
Go Joe.
Time to beat Donald Trump and restore a measure of sanity.
I hope Biden makes Warren Secretary of the Treasury - or Chair of the SEC. Or both.
We need her terrible swift sword in government.
As for Bernie, his fine proposals and this swooning op-ed aside, he seems incapable of expanding beyond his base.
And his base, their online bully-boys notwithstanding, doesn't show up in sufficient numbers to win elections.
Go Joe.
7
Bernie Sanders platform is great, but there is nothing of his that a president Biden would veto if it got to his desk.
But more importantly - Sanders is the favorite candidate of Russia because he divides Americans. He never would have gotten this far without them. If he won, some day they would come knocking, and his milquetoast admonishments that he doesn't want interference are less than convicing. Sanders is compromised.
2
Many rallied around Biden for the purpose of winning the presidency. It's useless to win the nomination, and then, as Bernie would, go on to a humiliating defeat by Trump. Not just humiliating! Bernie would cost us the House, and would trash our chances of winning the Senate and state races. The idea that Finland etc can be held up as examples of what America might become over the next few months us utterly ludicrous. As for telling people to go and vote for nice, cuddly Bernie... shocking in its divorce from reality.
5
The reason Trump and his Russian friends want Bernie as the nominee, is he is so easy to trash with ads.
"Bernie is a socialist." What is Bernie's response? That he's a Democratic Socialist and not a Socialist? That America already has socialism? He has no defense.
"Bernie is going to take away your employer paid health care." Bernie has no defense, as that is what he wants to do.
"Bernie will raise your taxes." He has to. No way else to pay for all his new expenditures. Trump will then compare Bernie to himself, and claim he will lower taxes. Whether true or not, Trump will claim he will.
I'm sure there are others. It is clear that if Bernie is the nominee he will get routed in November.
5
Very nice except you forgot the one American trait that really defines America.
We hate paying taxes and resent when anyone gets something we perceive is better than what we have. We are an angry, selfish, cheap people who continually cut off our nose to spite our face.
As a dual income salaried couple my taxes may not change that much under a Sanders plan but the fact that he can’t lay it out there and show me what I will get for a little bit more is the problem.
3
I'm sick of the talk of "revolution". Blah blah blah. I've been voting Democrat for 20 years, and honestly if he's the nominee I'm voting third party or writing in. He's a joke with nothing but smoke and seems all too happy to build up people's hopes for a major let-down should he be elected. God help us if we can't accept that "incremental change" is still change and a lot more practical and likely to happen in this country than explosive institution-crumbling change. And from which of his homes will he lead this revolution?
4
I go back and forth between Bernie and Biden. I like Bernie's revolution but can he get elected. Biden seems a safer bet but that's what we thought about Hilary.
However when I read the following in your article, I felt terribly discouraged. If Sanders savages Biden doesn't that just make it easier for Trump to do the same. Yes point out what is questionable in his political record. But corruption and impropriety! Come on - we need to beat Trump but not by being as bad as he is.
"condemn Mr. Biden emphatically for his political record (encouragingly, Mr. Sanders does appear prepared to take up that line) and for corruption and impropriety."
1
The word "free" keeps appearing. Folks, nothing today is free, but apparently some people don't understand this. Expecting the "very rich" to pay for these programs is a dream. It is, and always has been, the middle class who pay the bills. I've come to the conclusion I'd like to see Trump and Sanders debate. But then I've always enjoyed the humor of comedies written by Mel Brooks.
3
It would beyond hypocrisy if a Warren supporter would now turn and vote for Biden. So much for wanting a progressive candidate to become POTUS Biden is the antithesis of Warren. Remember that. No excuses now , not to vote for Bernie. None.. Don't fall for the anti Sanders Democrats propaganda saying that he's not electable . The party leaders managed to pull a late minute fast one against Sanders days before Super Tuesday . Maybe Biden offered the drop outs cabinet posts for them to leave early. who knows? Time for all of you Warren supporters to rally around the last true progressive around: Sanders. don't dare to think or do otherwise.
4
@lou andrews Do as I say or else! Don't be fooled by the millions of votes cast by your fellow Democrats, that's just fake news! All negative information is the result of trickery and a deep party conspiracy! "Who knows," but it doesn't matter, it's so because I say it's so! Lou, you sound just like a Trumpie, and that's one of the reasons why people for whom Sanders was not their first choice have so much trouble joining his "movement."
With Warren out of the race, my heart says "Bernie", but my head has always said "Biden". He can beat trump (as long as he keeps his foot out of his mouth more than trump does). Bernie can't beat trump. Sad but true, and we MUST beat trump
4
he would be a terrible president. and i'm a democrat. i would never vote for him nor would my democratic friends. we just wouldn't vote. that's how much we dislike him.
7
@drotars In L.A. you have that luxury. In Michigan we need to vote blue no matter who. Hopefully, Biden.
1
@Kathleen K, I'm from Michigan and I still hate the grumpy cat.
No matter many times the majority of Americans and the majority of Democrats prefer someone else, Sanders and his supporters continue to rear their heads and saying how actually, he's who the people want. They don't.
7
I am not a Bernie Bro. It took me awhile to figure out what I think of his candidacy. However, large numbers of my friends, and some relatives, who voted for Trump, have told me the only Democrat who would get them to switch is Sanders. That's enough for me. The establishement's myth that only a middle-of-the-roader can take on Trump is self-serving and delusional. Trump will chew Biden up like dog food.
3
The only question I have for Bernie is this - when Biden wins the nomination, will he do the right thing and tell his supporters to vote for Biden and not Jill Stein. Or worse, not vote at all?
6
Hi, I am writing here to remind you all that Joe Biden will have a hard time beating Donald Trump if he gets the nomination.
Joe Biden supported the Iraq War; he supported all those bad trade deals such as NAFTA, etc.; he supported cutting Medicare and Social Security. All things considered, he has a terrible track record. More importantly, he is in real mental decline. He has been showing signs of dementia. Just find some clips of he speaking, and you will know.
Joe Biden is worse than Hillary in every way, and Trump is only stronger than him in 2016 with all the GOP support.
On the other hand, Bernie Sanders has a real chance!!! He has a much better record. He has a movement behind him and many young volunteers who are willing to do the groundwork. Polls after polls showed his policies are popular, and this article indicates again those policies are not radical at all. Please support him. If you don't like him or think he is just an angry old man who is yelling all the time, please do some research and maybe find some old videos of him. You will discover Bernie has been on the right side of history all the time. If you think some of his supporters are mean, just ignore them.
Thank you!!
5
You don't seem to get it. The race is no longer about ideological purity but picking a candidate who can defeat Trump - and Bernie doesn't have the mass appeal to do that. You mention that Sanders has the support of the Latino demographic but you ignored the lack of enthusiasm among black voters. What would be accomplished if Sanders won the Democratic nomination and then lost to Trump. All of those ideological dreams would go down the drain.
3
Amazing how the press turned on Sanders so quickly. The news outright cheers for Joe Biden and tries to call it news coverage. Joe is the Dan Quayle of our times except worse. He was hidden from the many creepy , strange, awkward and outright silly things he said as the Vice President because President Obama was always sharp, even when under pressure and the coverage of the Obama presidency was overwhelmingly positive or if negative it as all about President Obama - Biden was a forgotten under card clown. Not sure he is up to doing more. Bernie may still beat um but the system will beat Bernie - just like last time , its rigged, they will never nominate him. The Democratic money has to much power and influence to lose and will not give it up with mere votes like the Republicans did with Trump.
4
They seeded the soil by releasing the question about the Russians supporting Bernie. Then the articles about the last chance Joe comeback; the make or break South Carolina primary. The press was littered with underdog Joe articles. Tom Perez and the team have initiated their plan and picked Biden to take the Dems to the WH. Instructions were clear, Pete and Amy you are to support Joe. Liz is to remain uncommitted.
1
If he is prepared to cede the Black vote to Biden, as evidenced today by his decision to skip Mississippi, that is counter-productive to instilling confidence that he can beat Trump. Further, it does nothing to instill confidence in Blacks when he declares he feels comfortable in Michigan. I'm left to conclude he doesn't feel comfortable in Mississippi. I suspect Black voters do too.
If white Democrats conclude Bernie can't motivate Blacks...essential to beating Trump, they won't vote for him. It makes no difference if Bernie if becomes family-friendly if he becomes concurrently seen as a loser to Trump.
@Tom Q
The unfortunate reality is that states like South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi may turn out droves of African-American voters who support Biden and who deliver the delegates he needs for the nomination, but please don't confuse that limited outcome with any prospect of winning those "Deep Red" states in the general election. Senator Sanders is correct in focusing his efforts on Michigan now, and those who are familiar with his social justice record know there is no disrespect or lack of comfort with Black voters and their issues on his part.
You are so far the only columnist at the NY Times who's unafraid to devote a positive column to Sanders's strengths, and I thank you for it.
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly that once most Americans develop a better understanding of what Bernie hopes to accomplish in the White House, they will enthusiastically support him.
Medicare for All is not radical in the world, nor is a Green New Deal. Nor is legalizing pot, making the minimum wage a living wage, democratizing the workplace, outlawing private prisons and fossil fuel company subsidies and illegal wars and indiscriminate drone bombings and the legalized bribery of our current, corrupt campaign finance system.
NOTHING of what Senator Sanders proposes is radical once you compare his ideas to the rest of the developed world -- it's the United States that's radical for under-valuing its citizens.
#Bernie2020
5
I urge Biden to drop out and immediately endorse Bernie or Warren. Biden cannot win the general without Bernie and Warren supporters.
1
Bernie Sanders is the best candidate to beat Trump. You can see it in poll after poll. Sure Biden won more states, but they were red states that are not helpful in the general. Bernie can win the swing states. He did in 2016 and there's no reason he can't now. However, the constant negative media coverage is not helping. They are always negating Bernie's gains while promoting Biden, and if you haven't been paying attention, Biden is in a somewhat steep decline into forgetfulness at best, and the onset of dementia at its worst. He will not be capable of any sort of debate, and I wonder how long Biden will be able to campaign. He makes gaffes daily, and they are big ones. Saying he was arrested in South Africa? Forgetting the Constitution? When is the media going to address that?
I know many people who will vote for Bernie as he is their first or second choice. I cannot say the same about Biden, especially when he is so obviously declining mentally.
3
yeah, and what's crazy isn't the Sanders is a "revolutionary" it's that "revolutionaries" are needed to make those things happen.
5
Citizens of European and Scandinavian countries are happy to pay the high taxes that support successful social programs. Most Americans- especially right wingers would not. That's the problem for Bernie in a nut shell!
1
This is a middle of the road nation .
Face reality and work against a right-wing
takeover
Biden is the only realistic home now,
1
Wow, sounds to me someone is whistling past the grave yard. There are a number of suppositions that are incorrect or fantasy, ie; “the map ahead could prove friendlier,” not a chance; “corruption,” are you accusing the VP? That is so laughable given Trump and his acolytes. This just names a few. Sanders “Family values,” give me a break. The VP is the living embodiment of family values. The contest is not between the VP and Sanders but who can save our democracy and country from Trump. The voters answered that question on Tuesday. Now we need a United Democratic Party to finish the job by voting overwhelmingly like they did on Tuesday. Sanders and the “Bernie Bros” can join or play the Trump and Russian chaos to destroy our democracy.
3
Bernie has hit his ceiling because too many people actually care what is possible.
3
There is a gaping Bloomberg sized hole in this argument.
Regardless where Warren throws her support, Bloomberg (who was equaled to her in Super Tuesday backing) will find his supporters in the Biden camp. He was not mentioned in the column and deserves particular call out as his contribution to this election has not been "exhausted."
1
The latest poll from Florida has Bernie falling like a rock. Now already down to only 12% in the Florida primary! If Bernie doesn't drop out by then, Biden looks to beat Bernie in Florida by at least 5 to 1 in Florida. Most likely Bernie will drop at now at any moment.
1
The dirty little secret is that he's not really that revolutionary. But that's how he's been selling himself. Might be too late to undo it.
2
Bernie Sanders is single handedly responsible for HRC losing in 2016 and instead of the Dems appointing 2-3 SCOTUS judges the GOP may accomplish that.
This country will live with the damage Bernie Sanders has dumped on us for the next 30 yrs.
6
It's sad when the author of this piece refers to the Biden endorsements by Pete, Amy, etc as being designed to "slow Sanders momentum" rather than see it as fuleing the Biden momentum. Though that certainly was a result, its the kind of victim-ish blame that Sanders supporters have always trafficked in.
3
Gotta love how all of the pro-Sanders articles these days are one attempt or another to show how he's actually in disguise. Love him or hate him, if he walks like a radical, talks like a radical and campaigns like a radical..
1
If you're OK with second guessing the intentions of the electorate, vote for Biden. Vote for the Iraq war and its trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands dead. Vote for incoherent speech. Vote against M4A in a time of Covid-19. Vote for the agonizing status quo, which wants nothing so much as free, free, freedom Social Darwinism and is nothing but righty lite.
But if he gets the nomination, I'll vote for him.
And if it turns out that the Democratic party engineered a coup against Bernie, then it has a life long, sworn enemy.
It is the ultimate irony to call someone a family values candidate when he failed to pay child support for his own child.
4
Open borders? "Medicare for All" rather than stabilizing and improving the ACA? Free college that the middle class will end up funding? Add his intransigence on compromise and he is too radical for the rank and file democrats like myself. We did not ask to become Democratic Socialists and our priority is beating Trump..period!
3
Elementary school, middle school and high school are paid for by taxes so what is it so hard to accept that four more years of school...college, cant be subsidized by taxpayers as well? Because college was reserved only for white children of the rich...and high-paying management jobs were only available to those with college degrees. That's how white people created a barrier to their quality of life to nonwhites. When various government programs were enacted to support college for nonwhites, the cost of a higher education began to rise out of their reach, despite public assistance. That is when the government offered student loans and, despite a college degree, the poor and nonwhites are still locked out. Its not an accident...it's by this country's racist design.
3
"Yes. American people you can have nice things." So says Western Europe, Scandinavia and every other developed country on the planet. The American people have been gaslighted by their bipartisan (DEM and GOP) political establishment.
5
Your analysis is really flawed.
Biden is ahead by a considerable amount of points. Sanders would have to win enough to catch up, and then pass him, while assuming Biden does not add a single point to his tally. An impossibility - he already canceled a tour in the south, so Biden is getting those points, so that theory is already not going to happen.
This: 'Elizabeth Warren ... and many of her supporters seem primed to turn to Mr. Sanders'. That's a huge lie right there. Her supporters were for her. She's gone, but her faithful are not about to shrug and line up behind Sanders. They are more than likely to write her in, or vote Biden any way.
The Latins might support him, but not the African Americans. Meaning he might get a boost in NV, then loose out big in the Great Lakes area.
If by some miracle he limps to the finish line just ahead, then the DNC will pull the magic card called Super Delegates, and is Biden in a land slide.
Sanders lost the election the moment Warren decided to stick around on Super Tuesday. It's all down hill for him until he calls it quits.
1
HI, I think B is too far left, and that is coming from a liberal Dem. And has shown that he has an ego similar to Trump's, that is, my way or no way. Biden's plans are more realistic. I hope Warren moves over to support Biden - she would have a better future.
2
The top suggestion for Bernie Sanders:
Lose the “democratic socialist” moniker.
FDR and Harry Truman supported universal health insurance. Reference them and the need to bring the Democratic Party back to its roots.
3
Promoting Soviet style Socialism in Castro's Cuba can at best get Bernie elected as Vermont governor. Even in California, Trump got more votes than what Bernie got. Don't be delusional, bernie cannot deliver on a single promise he makes especially if it is a Republican house and senate. ?feel good speeches mean diddly squat in real life. Fantasy of family values that Dan Quayle talked about meant rebuilding family units with no cost to the tax payers. Ask Bernie what his ridiculous plans will cost and he gives a patented answer. How much time do you have to listen to my answer?
2
You go into an election with the voters you have, not the voters you want. All "ought tos", "shoulds" and other forms of wishful thinking will not get Sanders elected.
If you want progressive family values enacted into the laws of the nation, don't put up a presidential candidate who will lose the election. Get any Democrat elected President, get Democratic control of Congress, and then craft legislation and push it.
1
It's not going to work. Nobody cares about programs now. Elizabeth Warren would still be in the race if they did. And if Sanders gets to the White House the Democrats won't have Congress, so his programs will go nowhere.
It's all about defeating Trump now, and getting back to normal. It's about not having to check to the news every couple of hours to see what crazy thing he has done today.
1
Noam Chomsky has said for many years now that Americans are more left leaning than their representatives in Congress, which is not surprising really.
The Democrats can’t really go wrong with a policy of universal healthcare, cheap or free at the point of use, given that half of American workers are classified as low-wage. The financial consequences of illness must be a big worry for them. Many of Donald Trump’s working class and rural supporters are in the same boat.
France is reckoned to have one of the best socialised healthcare systems, outcomes are similar to America but at only two thirds the cost. So it is obvious that American healthcare, as it is currently configured, is a drag on national prosperity. Donald Trump should take note of the problems with healthcare for many of his supporters if he wants to be re-elected.
1
This column written by an obvious Bernie supporter is full of wishful thinking that voters will suddenly wakeup and believe Bernie Sanders can magically transform this country.
He talks a great game, but what what has he done in all of his (30??) years of being a Senator?
Anyone can come up with the laundry list of promises. It's the ability to *deliver* that Bernie falls short on. Where is the mass increase in young voters he keeps promising? WHY should voters trust he will get any of this legislation passed when he continually overstates his voter base?
When history is written, Bernie will be a footnote. He was a man of ideas, and a man of principle but he never found a way to turn those ideas into a believable and pragmatic plan that he could sell to a skeptical American public and pass through a divided and partisan congress.
Leaving that $30 trillion figure out there without any pushback is part of what is hurting Bernie. It has left the impression he is irresponsible. I don’t have all the particulars, but it isn’t rocket science that delivering the same quality health care to every American cannot possibly be cheaper under a private insurance system than a system like Medicare. Private insurance premiums must fund profits (that we know are very high), executive salaries (that we know are very high for not just one company but every company in the field), costs of competition and advertising, duplication of administrative effort and plain old greed (with its incentive to deny claims). There is not one countervailing cost of a Medicare system that offsets any of these costs and deficiencies. So, Bernie should be able to tell people what the total premiums would be for everyone under a private insurance plan like the ACA. He should also subtract the cost of premiums that Americans are already paying. Because, if moderates say their goal is to provide health care for every American at a reasonable cost, they are either being disingenuous in attacking Bernie on costs or they simply do not intend to provide the same quality health care to all Americans. It is not mathematically possible.
Also, Bernie failed to acknowledge you can keep employee coverage under existing Medicare. Under Medicare for All, it would eventually die out anyway, but he shouldn’t have been so dogmatic.
Please stop. Of course, we all love Bernie's Utopian proposals. We all want all the problems to be fixed now.
There will be a national election in 8 months and it has been fairly conclusively displayed that progressive democrats simply do not have the numbers (read Why Democrats Are Still Not the Party of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez by Jennifer Steinhauer in the New York Times). This was proven in the 2018 elections and it is being proven in the primaries. There is no evidence that that sentiment will change.
We may not get single-payer universal health care in the next four years. But we will certainly get the opportunity to appoint 2 or three judges to the Supreme Court; increase funding for services like Planned Parenthood, turn back Republican assaults on environmental regulations, initiate programs to address carbon emissions, initiate gun control legislation..... There is a lot of important work to be done - if Democrats win.
There is no data that would indicate that a full progressive agenda would be preferable to the general US population. There is even less data that would indicate that a progressive agenda would be helpful in the swing states we would need to win a national election. Minorities are not flocking to progressive candidates. Old-school Democrats are not switching to progressive candidates. The only progressive election successes have come at the expense of incumbent Democrats.
1
Most people who say that Sen. Sanders is unelectable say that they "feel" or "think" that we he is unelectable. Yet if they consulted the polls, they would find out that he has the best chance of any Democrat at dislodging Trump. In PA., MI and especially WI, the 3 key states, Sen. Sanders is the most viable candidate. Lots of DNC linked commentators like to point to the McGovern/Nixon election as proof that the Democratic party should never nominate a Left leaning candidate. Yet that was 48 years ago! That would have been like JFK basing his campaign strategy on the issues facing Woodrow Wilson! In any case, never McGovern came within 10% of Nixon in the polls whereas Bernie has been leading Trump in most polls since the beginning of 2016.
4
Elizabeth Warren, easily the smartest person in the Democratic primary hunt did not endorse Bernie today when she bowed out of the competition. That speaks volumes. Unlike Bernie and his cult-like followers, she does not have a "my way or the highway" attitude and recognizes we need to go with someone who can win the entire electorate, not just Bernie's fan base.
2
This is a great column. I hope influential people in the Sanders campaign read it and take its ideas to the heart, and we see them reflected in his speeches and outreach from now on. He's got to stop giving the same speech about the billionaire class. We've all heard that bit, and it leaves him open to the "angry class warrior " charges the right keeps trying to pin on him. Everyone agrees a literate educated population is a good idea , but there's a lot more to be gained politically by linking it to Finland than to Fidel. And Finland, among other Scandinavian countries with extensive social programs, consistently ranks among the happiest in the world, while despairing Americans are killing themselves with opioids. What's wrong with this picture?
1
It enrages me that Biden is considered the "safe pick." Clinton was the "safe pick" in 2016. That Trump and his team are foaming at the mouth for Biden to be the nominee, because they know they'll rip him apart in the general, is proof enough for me. "But Hunter!" will be the new "but her emails!"
Sanders is safer than Biden. Passion will win this election. Repeat these mantras to anybody who will listen.
362
@IS
All available information contradicts every one of your assertions. And this is coming from a Sanders fan, but one who does not want to lose the next election.
67
@Pete "All available information" includes the fact that Sanders is narrowly in 2nd place for total number of delegates, and moderates dems and Republicans alike are in agreement of how much of an uninspiring cipher Joe Biden is. "All available information" includes the fact that the best Biden supporters can say about Joe is " he's not Sanders" or "we need to beat Trump", but nothing substantive about his actual policies, charisma, or intellect.
Now that Warren has dropped out, the landscape will change even more. Sanders is more electable than ever.
37
@IS Even if Bernie were to win (he wont) he couldn't bring congress along with him to pass legislation much less the courts. Suppose he had congress with him. Every piece of legislation would grind to halt in the courts. Bernie's not the answer.
39
Nice column. I hadn't thought of highlighting these programs as a package. Good advice!
I voted for Sanders on Super Tuesday and will again if the DNC doesn't pull any shenanigans and the "superdelegates" refrain from heavy-handed kingmaking. Sanders and Warren appeal to me because of their aversion to the corrosive effects of big money on our political system. Why don't we have, say, sensibly priced health care in the U.S.? How can we as long as elected officials are accepting vast amounts of money from Big Pharma, hospital chains, doctors associations, and so on? And why is Wall Street so unregulated? Didn't we learn? Look at the relevant bills passed after the brouhaha died down. Odd how, when politicians' cash teat is threatened, we seem to get excellent bipartisan teamwork, given that they are, on this one topic, united in their priorities. Keep the cash flowing.
An older reporter for "The Nation" who has followed Bernie Sanders' career for decades, tells of Sanders refusing a $490 campaign donation because he recognized the check as coming from a married couple who are billionaires.
Contrast: The Center for Responsive Politics, which keeps up with the money in politics, reports that BY March 3, Biden had received $4.4 million from Wall Street, more than any other candidate. Pending a strong Super Tuesday gain, Wall Street donors told Reuters, they would be willing to fully support him.
I urge Democrats to follow the money. See opensecrets.org.
5
Bernie is a liberal's dream. Solid, uncompromising, and strident. And a Congressional politician's nightmare--inflexible, strident, and uncompromising. Bernie is 100% principled and pathetically less effective. How my bills did he pass in Congress? How often did he broker cross-party dialogues?
We need a diplomat. Not a strident ideologue.
Once we regain the presidency, Senate, and House, we can move to our ideal state. Bernie is not the politician to get us there.
5
In 2016 there was a good case for a populist candidate winning the day. In fact, one of them did. And the horror show we have had since has reminded people why they don’t want a populist.
To hear Bernie tell it, the youth will come out in droves (didn’t happen), he will build the most diverse coalition (didn’t happen- he has no chance of carrying the African American vote), and he will defeat the establishment (wait, doesn’t he need those votes too?)
So if none of that happened, how much faith do you expect us to have in all these pipe dreams passing? The man has no idea how to compromise. What seems to be his biggest strength with supporters is his biggest weakness with everyone else.
I too want universal healthcare and action on climate change. But in my mind, running Bernie takes us further from that- even if he wins.
He has huge challenges getting elected. It’s too easy to paint him as a hypocrite. Right now the Republicans have abandoned the center. Why would we do the same for someone who continues to prove they can’t do what they say they are going to do?
1
Sanders should emphasize how he will work with other people to move his ideas from fantastical platitudes to practical realities. With Warren, it was easy to see how she could work with others to create actual policy changes ... but Sanders? Not so much. Biden may be a safe, moderate presidency; that's better than an intransigent president who accomplishes nothing.
3
I think you are mistaken about suburbanites hesitation on Bernie. I agree it’s not that they don’t want healthcare and childcare, polls say they do, but I don’t think it’s the revolutionary rhetoric either. They just don’t believe he could get it done. Being nasty to Joe Biden won’t change that, so I hope he doesn’t take your advice and instead thinks about showing us a plan that convinces is he can deliver on his promises.
Please don’t encourage more divisiveness. There’s too much at stake.
9
The most radical position is to neglect to do anything about an unsustainable system and wait until that problem balloons out of control. People want to paint Bernie as radical but in fact starting to address these issues now is the conservative approach. This is not radical, instead it is the most level headed approach.
Ie giving primary care to control diabetes is much more cost effective than dealing with recurrent hospital admissions for heart failure that results from diabetes. The environment has diabetes now and people think a green new deal is some radical idea but what they are really saying is let’s kick the can down the road a bit more and wait until the Earth is in heart failure.
4
Understood. But: Bernie’s supporters simply did not go the polls. They should remind themselves that if they fail to exercise their right to vote, they should not complain about election results. Why is this so hard for them to understand?
6
I think a lot of Bernie supporters who feel it's wrong to vote just to defeat Trump don't truly understand the long lasting consequences of a Trump 2nd term. Just one example: right now the Supreme Court is determining a case which can open the doors to make abortions nearly impossible in some states. The fate of that decision rests in the hands of Justice Roberts, a very conservative judge. If God forbid Trump wins again and a spot opens up on the Supreme Court, then the shift to the right would do irreparable harm not just for the next 4 years, or the next 10 years. Their decisions would last generations.
Of course there are issues that many feel passionate about and should continue to fight for but this election is not the time to put candidate over party. The first step to enact progressive change is to vote Trump out of office and we have to support the candidate who can do that. Bernie is too polarizing. We need to unite the party not divide it.
8
One reason we Demcrats prefer Biden over Bernie is simple. He has a track record of being an electable Democrat. Another is Bidens track record of avoiding scorched earth rhetoric in his previous runs for national office. The author here proudly exhorts Bernie to go negative in order to win, regardless of the harm it may cause to Democrats in the general.
I was Warren all the way until I realized after SC it wouldn't happen. I am now a Biden supporter. BTW, we women of a certain age prefer the occasional DOM habits of Biden to the viciousness Bernie supporters showed Warren, and Bernie's dismissiveness towards her.
6
Somehow, someway when I think of Bernie Sanders in the years to come, I will always associate his name with the phrase: FREE EVERYTHING. Sorry, but there is no free lunch, either.
3
Bernie's record is thin in terms of his service to government, and some of his ideas are not sustainable. Not a Bernie fan. See Joe Klein's op-ed in the Post today---says it all.
3
Thanks for your column, and I hope the Bernie campaign takes you up on your ideas, because what you highlight are Bernie’s plans to lift people up. And I’d love to see you, an avid Bernie supporter, report in why it is that so many of his fans break people down.
It’s fascinating to me that I’m being driven away from the candidate I’m most ideologically aligned with by the behaviors I’m encountering on social media.
3
Will all that hide the truth? He’s still for open borders and health care for life for all residents. His Medicare for all doesn’t improve a poor plan for my needs and will cost me more. I love Bernir but I’m not voting against my own interests.
2
The author misses the point that voters want a moderate in temperament as much as policy. Sen. Sanders delights in asserting how birthdays don't matter him, and falls most naturally into gear-locked talking points at a set volume. People crave a more human touch, empathy that expresses itself in more than abstract ideals. VP Biden could more ably deliver a Sanders agenda than Sanders himself but is unpersuaded that it could be achieved, which is a sad irony for "Bernie" fans to endure. But regardless, progress is afoot with a Biden administration looking increasingly likely.
1
"a family values candidate"
If Mr. Sanders manages to spread economic disaster, unemployed families will spend indeed much more time together.
Foraging for food, rather than each in a different workplace.
3
Proponents of social welfare programs need to emphasize that such measures are conservative rather than radical. Self-styled "conservatives" have succeeded in convincing a large segment of the electorate that these measures are radical, while progressives too often have allowed themselves to be denigrated as radicals or opponents of capitalism even though a healthy, safe, and well educated population facilitates capitalist enterprises. For example, I once heard a progressive state legislator in my heavily Republican state say on a radio program that a social welfare bill she had introduced would face tough opposition because the state was so pro-business. She ought to have said that the bill would encounter fierce opposition because the state is anti-business. I con't see how policies that facilitate widespread hunger and homelessness and gargantuan disparities in wealth can be called conservative, and I likewise don't understand how massive military spending and foreign adventurism is conservative. Although some people have told me that I'm quibbling about semantics when I insist that progressives ought to call themselves conservatives because the word "conservative" has acquired a political meaning apart from its original definition. I think that surrendering that word to the political Right has real consequences because most people still associate the word with its original meaning of denoting prudence, restraint, and stability.
4
Cult of personality, Trump wins;
Donor wars, Biden wins nomination;
Capitalism versus crony capitalism, Sanders wins big.
" . . . I just tell the truth about them, and they think it's Hell." Harry Truman.
1
I have been saying much the same thing for a long time. There isn't much that Bernie wants to do isn't:
1) something that America did in more prosperous times, abandoned, and watched it's middle class wither as a result. We need to return to common sense regulation; break up the massive media conglomerates; revitalize unions.
2) something that is currently working in other nations. If I have to listen to one more newscaster say, "How can we afford to have better healthcare for less money, just like the rest of the industrialized world? How can we possibly spend less money and get better results? WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM?" I'm going to break down into tears.
There is nothing radical in Bernie's plans. There is nothing experimental in his plans. We know it will work, because it was either working fine until we abandoned it for worse results, or that it is currently working better RIGHT NOW somewhere else.
4
I like Bernie.
I voted for Bernie.
I agree with most of what he says and what he wants to do.
I don't want to see a repeat of the 2016 primary.
I don't want him to continue to try to get the nomination if it means trying to take Biden down at all costs. I would like to see a strong, spirited, full-throated comparison between his vision for what he would do as president VS what Biden would do.
No character attacks, please. No scorched earth. No name calling or handing ammunition to the Republicans in the general.
I would like Biden to behave this way as well, BTW.
While I believe strongly that Biden would not do enough of what our country needs, I am certain that our planet and country cannot survive 4 more Trump years.
Let's all be grownups now, Democrats. Let's come together and take back our country, starting with the White House and the Senate!
8
Bernie's shortfall as a candidate is that he isn't interested in reaching out to voters that don't share his views. He doesn't seem to have any empathy or recognition of other perspectives. It's his way or the highway. Super Tuesday was a rejection of his platform by the plurality of Democrats that voted. It's delusional to believe his platform or candidacy will result in Republican defections.
5
@Long time Democrat
Who is he supposed to have empathy for that he doesn't?
The plight of the 50+ well off who got where they are on affordable college and housing programs that existed when they were young in the 1950s and 1960s?
The challenge Bezos endures to "donate" his way into exceptions to the building code for his warehouses so that his workers have to urinate in bottles and pass out from heat stroke?
As Dems already hammered before Super Tuesday, a plurality is not a majority. You don't get to win the nomination without a majority, remember? Plurality doesn't count.
What's delusional is to believe that Biden in his current state can achieve any unity or bipartisanship with the Republicans now to pass progressive legislation. He failed to do it for 8 years having the power of the VP office. He failed for 30+ years to do it in the Senate.
The Republicans have already opened investigations into Hunter. If Biden wins the WH, he will be drowning in the same impeachment investigations Trump had live through. You're not going to win back control of the Senate and Congress to stop that from happening.
The worst thing you can say about Bernie is that he's a socialist, and will govern by executive order as Obama did. Don't you think that oppo research has dug through his past to find skeletons?
Like the Kenyan Muslim thing with Obama, the Sanders investigations will go nowhere because there's no there there.
With Biden, there's enough meat on that bone.
3
Sanders and his supporters talk about the great things he will do if he's elected prez. Can Sanders get it done?
His record in Congress is very unimpressive. GovTrak lists a total of 7 bills which Sanders has sponsored and passed in his 30-year political career. Two of them change the name of post offices and another one designates "Vermont Bicentennial Day."
I'm fine with the cost of living adjustments to vets and expanding Green Mountain National Forest in VT but these aren't controversial bills. (To see this info, google "gov trak sanders")
GovTrak also shows Sanders as the most left-wing member of the Senate and ranks him in the bottom 10% for leadership.
And Sanders says he's going to bring about revolutionary change if he's prez? He hasn't done much after 30 years in Congress despite the opportunities and resources there.
5
@DJY
Have you looked at what GovTrak says about Biden? Not impressive if you want progressive legislation to pass.
1
@Viv -- I did look up Biden's record on Gov Trak. He's in the middle of the Democratic Party in terms of ideology, and he's ranked among the top 10% of Senators for leadership. He initiated and passed 42 bills over a 5-year period. (Compare with Sanders' 7 bills over 30 years.)
There has been criticism of some of Biden's bills, as well as praise, and I'm willing to accept that. Legislation is compromise.
(To see this info, google "gov trak biden")
@Viv -- I did look up Biden's record on Gov Trak. He's in the middle of the Democratic Party in terms of ideology, and he's ranked among the top 10% of Senators for leadership. He initiated and passed 42 bills over a 35-year period. (Compare with Sanders' 7 bills over 30 years.)
There has been criticism of some of Biden's bills, as well as praise, and I'm willing to accept that. Legislation is compromise.
(To see this info, google "gov trak biden")
None of those programs are free. They will be paid for by tax payers, and it won't be just the rich.
Economically, Sanders is too command economy anti-capitalism. We need more, better capitalism, real competition. Think of how much better cars are than they used to be when we were limited to The Big Three monopoly.
Moderates are all for universal health care, affordable college, child care, pro active environmental policies.
Bernie's economics don't add up.
5
this is a great column! Sanders supporters need to say this more--his policies are family friendly, people friendly, earth friendly, and universal in nature! He is also the most child-friendly candidate out there, and I say this as a pediatrician--who else talks about early childhood development as so crucial for people to reach their potential and the need for education for all??? Really, who else left is talking about this?? (Yes, Warren has talked about giving moms and babies the support they need.)
10
The problem with Sanders isn’t the message, it’s the messager and the way that message is packaged. Talking about a revolution is fine when it turns out well like The American Revolution. It’s not when it ends with many heads in baskets like The French Revolution. His talk of revolution is irresponsible and stirs up dangerous populist sentiment that make many of his supporters come off like liberal versions of Trumpers. If by some miracle he were able to beat Trump, which seems doubtful, we would find a country more divided and liable to swing back to the other pole in the next election. These are dangerous times and we need to find away to come together. Imperfect as he may be, Joe offers the only way to do that. It’s time for the country to stop behaving like impetuous children whining because they didn’t get a cookie. Grow up people. The practice of democracy is for adults who realize that democracy only works with compromise and give and take. It is slow. Make it move too fast and it comes off the rails. Make it move too fast and you end up with Trump or worse.
7
Republicans win. Democrats lose. That's been the narrative of politics in the US for the last couple of decades. We seem to always question policies that will benefit us but be okay with endless wars, tax breaks for the wealthy, etc. If Biden is the nominee, Trump will win.
Tell me what Biden stands for besides bringing back "decency" to the White House. People want some to believe in. And I'm not talking about the endless platitudes that Pete & Beto continuously spill every moment they're on camera.
6
@Ricardo Cid
What does Biden bring? Aviator shades? I totally agree: there is no answer to this question and that is a major problem. The Establishment seems to think that it is enough to run a candidate who is defined by a threat: "you must elect me or Trump will win." This is a repeat of 2016.
3
Um, hello? Last I checked a Democrat was President 2008 -2016. How did Obama win? You may not like what he did, but Sanders is proposing a much heavier lift and just doesn’t have the savvy or the support to get it done. I salute his ideas and his purity, but waving your arms around and chanting “revolution” is not going to be enough.
1
@Ricardo Cid: Read Biden's comprehensive platform. Easy to find with Google search. Oh, and I believe strongly in the importance of decency as modeled by the president of the United States.
I think many independents and even some republican voted in these latest primaries, in some states they have open primaries. And so a bunch of never-Trump or disillusioned Trump voters voted for a moderate, either Bloomberg or Biden. But to me, both of them are conservative democrats, while Sanders is the actual democrat. Biden seems to be willing to go along with just about anything, he mentioned both the the possibility of a black woman and a republican as VP pick. I think Sanders is the one who could actually help black people if he could get his agenda passed, but maybe both of them would. But who is going to help poor white people and the homeless if Biden is elected? He wants to work with republicans, who like having some white people on the bottom, so they, like cream, can rise to the top. I think we need someone with a plan and some policy proposals, maybe beginning farther left and demanding more than the things which would actually pan out in congress, with the assumption that bargains will have to be struck. I think a stronger vision from the executive branch would bring energy and inspiration into changing the country, not that all of government inevitably swings to the center due to entropy, as some people seem to think.
3
I cannot believe that someone who opposes Donald Trump is using her high profile platform to argue that the way forward for progressives is to attack Joseph Biden. This will accomplish nothing except to soften Biden up for Donald Trump in the general election, where Biden, and not Sanders, will be the nominee. Factionalism really is mother's milk for the left. Among several forces moving the Democratic party to the left the past few years, Sanders is probably the most important. He should be satisfied with that as the culmination of a worthy career and step aside to do what he obviously must: everything he can to help the party defeat Donald Trump.
5
What you're describing here is exactly what the Democratic Party DOES NOT need...insisting on trying to beat each other, instead of focusing on the big picture...beating TRUMP.
Bernie Sanders is NOT capable of being elected President. He's an angry, angst-ridden Socialist in a Capitalist society. He will NEVER pull moderate Republicans away from Trump, which is exactly what needs to happen if Democrats are going to win this election.
If Sanders truly cares about the country, and restoring Democracy, he'll drop his narcissism and his candidacy and put his support behind Biden, which is exactly what Warren should do, as well. A President Sanders will never pass one piece of legislation in a Republican-controlled Senate. I'm a moderate Democrat...a social liberal but an economic conservative...and I won't vote for him.
Wake-up, people.
6
@Alan
Spoken like someone who has a job with good benefits and stable access to health care.
The divide among Democrats right now is a reflection of a REAL divide in our society, one that is growing increasingly larger every year: those who have, and those who don't. One side of this divide wants to keep on as is while the other faces a threat to their existence if things don't change. Biden is more of the same.
1
I think many are missing an important part of the American Dream—maybe the most important— that is, the ability to make money. It is fear that Mr. Sanders’ “revolution” will significantly erode that ability that has many voters running in the other direction.
5
Here is a critical question:
IF worried Democratic voters could be assured Bernie Sanders would trounce Trump, more so than yesteryear Biden—
THEN, how would they vote in the primaries?
[That would be most telling, and separate the vice-like grip of the establishment from Bernie's authentic, literally heart and soul, reform (transformation) that would lift up everyone.]
4
I'm voting for Biden because I want to see people's lives improve, not a few show votes (or vetoes) because the perfect solution isn't on the menu. I'm also tired of being growled at by Bernie and his supporters, and I am most definitely not "the Establishment."
2
Sanders is right to stay in until the convention. Joe Biden's expiration date may have passed. The next 8 months will be very stressful for the Democrat elite. They are betting a lot of money and 4 years is the price to be paid if Biden can't hold it together.
Democrats need to vote for someone that can do the job if there elected, not just maintain a pulse.
13
How is health care as a human right, everywhere in the Industrialized world radical? How is a living wage, radical? How is ridding corruption from our election processes, radical? How is saving the planet, radical? Until these mainstream issues are labelled as normal, the left behind will continue to suffer.
13
In other words, Bernie should adopt Warren's platform.
If only Bernie's supporters had seen this earlier, they could have supported Warren.
Now, I'm afraid, we're stuck with Biden. Or maybe Trump.
3
Even if Bernie doesn't get the nomination, thanks so much for explaining why we don't have to be scared of what progressives represent, why the power of labeling and false narratives is so caustic, why we all need to get together on so many fronts instead of fighting.
4
I think Ms. Bruenig has made a wise suggestion. Bernie's efforts to greatly expand the youth vote has not been as successful as he hoped.
If voters take the time to look at his platform they will see that it is entirely based upon helping families and he may be more successful with older voters if he if he presented it that way, rather than an existential threat to the establishment.
This not to say that helping families would NOT be an existential threat to the establishment. The real question is why the establishment has so little regard for working class people, but it sounds more positive to focus on how it will help working people rather than how it will threaten the predators.
6
Thank you Elizabeth for this great Op-Ed.
When people who voted and will vote for Biden remember when they get large surprise billing from their friendly healthcare insurance, high drug prices, continuing wealth inequality that nothing fundamental changed.
I hope they remember that they were put off by Sanders's "profligacy" in proposing expensive social programs, his shouting or his curmudgeonly attitude. He would have been fighting for their causes while Biden moves the deck chairs around.
But if Biden also loses we may have to start selling apples or pencils on freeways exit or onramps. Trump will be unleashed.
12
We are about to have a recession. Trump will lose a good part of his base and so the will not be nominated for a second term. A moderate, pleasant Republican will be nominated instead. (One would still probably appoint one or two conservative judges to the supreme court !). Biden could beat him but I don't think that Bernie would.
Mr. Sanders is old enough to know he has baggage of his own and that "going low" may lead to this being used against him. I would like Ms. Breuning to explain how ANY positive comments about socialist and communist dictators who have imprisoned, tortured, and murdered political prisoners are consistent within any framework of family values. While there is probably justification for concerns about possible ethical violations, the charge of corruption on the part of Joseph Biden is speculation at best and a smear at its worst.
I don't know what your exposure has been to white suburbs, but people out there are practical and critical enough to recognize that Mr. Sanders has achieved little as a senator, they don't like or trust people who feel a need to yell to get their message across, and most importantly mistrust those proposing plans without a funding stream while threatening at the same time to remove a benefit that works for them. Their greatest concern is nominating someone who would not be able to win the presidency nor support achieving Democratic senate majority.
3
How refreshing, compared to all the boogie-man pieces demeaning Sen. Sanders by some of your fellow op-ed writers of late. Your op-ed makes good sense, especially to folks who have actually traveled to developed countries and not been scared senseless at the sight of healthy kids and elders, paved roads and unarmed civilians.
18
The writer , as all Sanders apologists do , sing the aspirational praises of Sanders proposals but conveniently fail to point out exactly how it will be paid for except for cloudy vague statements that Billionaires will pick up the tab for the rest of us . Sanders will not clearly and concisely lay out how each and every grand expensive program ( health care , free college , college loan forgiveness , free child care ) will be paid for. Why ? Simple , he saw what happened to Warren when she tried to explain her plan for paying for her multi Trillion dollar plan for enforced universal health care .
Sanders has made a great contribution to moving the Democratic Party in a more Progressive direction. However , his dogmatic and essentially dishonest avoidance to level with the American people as to what his radical proposals would actually cost plus his demonizing of financial success in the US is an Electoral College loser and would insure the re-election of Trump which is unthinkable .
4
To be blunt, put a fork in him, he's done. The math isn't there and his dour countenance on Tuesday night proves it. Let's unite behind our nominee and urge Bernie to drop out and not take this to the convention (where he will urge super delegates to over turn the will of the people like he tried to do in 2016 against Sect. Clinton). Too much at stake, too much to lose. Step aside Bernie for the good of your country.
7
If Bernie had any compassion for the United States he would drop out of the race. Although I agree with him on some issues, I always wondered if he was unrealistic and mostly in it for his own ego. When he didn't drop out of the race after having a heart attack at age 78 (life expectancy for males in the U.S.), he completely confirmed my suspicions. While age isn't necessarily an indication of poor health, clearly he is not someone with great health and the opposition will capitalize on it. His health issues (did he ever released the records?), coupled with his self-label of socialist, mean he will never win against our current president. And right now, removing our current president from office should be the primary goal of anyone who cares about the future of our country. This is no time to mess around. Biden, while not much younger, is experienced, in good health and a decent person. Let's get behind him and not look back.
7
When you say NYC offers free pre-K, it’s not free to someone who lives and pays taxes in NYC. Nothing in life is free, someone has to pay.
7
While this in an opinion piece, it sure ignores many facts. Elizabeth Warren supporters' second choices were split almost evenly between Biden and Sanders. This article also completely ignores the fact that Bloomberg dropped out and endorsed Biden, with nearly all his supporters being moderates. In terms of a path forward, strategy is certainly important, but this article paints the current position as nearly equal to Biden, when almost all of the events that have happened in the last week have, and will continue to, solely benefit Biden.
4
Keep dreaming.
When Bloomberg’s ads start showing people Bernie’s checkered background, not to mention that he has simply no idea what his proposals cost, or how to get them passed, he’ll drop even further.
7
Reading op-eds and comments about Sanders I often find myself wondering if there's another Bernie Sanders running for president. The Sanders I know is a pragmatist who has been willing to work across the aisle and is respected for doing the homework and keeping his word. The Sanders I know respects the rule of law and the constitution. He listens to and respects his constituents. He asks people to care for each other's families and the least among us. He even has a sense of humor.
33
That’s not the Bernie who is running for President, unfortunately, or the one his most passionate supporters seem to want.
3
And how do you know this sanders?
I don’t know this sanders.
I think he’s a fraud.
@Laurabat The Sanders I know had a heart attack, dissembled about it initially, and now does a good imitation of Trump ala taxes by refusing to divulge his medical records.
1
Bernie was a defeated man in March, 2016, but he stayed in the race for four more months, making it abundantly clear he found the nominee unacceptable to anyone and everyone who'd listen. Compelling evidence, especially, in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, shows that Bernie voters who defected to Trump are a larger total than Trump's margins of victory in those places. Don't be fooled by Bernie supporters who deny the role they played in electing Trump. It was significant.
So here we are again, going down that same road. Will Bernie and his supporters again stubbornly refuse to concede? What will the long-term damage be?
18
@Zack
Totally agree, Bernie should go third party now.
Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialist for president 2020!!
1
@Zack
12% of Bernie's supporters voted for Trump - so why didn't they vote for Hillary? Because they knew - as everyone knows by now - that Hillary (like Biden) is a corporate shill.
Why would anti-status quo Progressives vote for a corporate shill? Only Moderates vote for corporate shills.
That was Hillary's fault. She and Bill are now worth $240,000,000. Not bad for a government salary!
But like all Moderates, you have failed to thank the 80% of Bernie supporters who voted for Hillary and gave her the popular vote.
Guess you've also not thanked Bernie for the 39 rallies he held for Hillary.
So 80% of Bernie's supporters voted for Hillary - and for three years you've disparaged the Bernie Bros as the reason why Hillary lost to Trump!
And you expect the Bernie Bros to vote for Biden, yet another corporate shill, even though Moderates refused to support Bernie?? What a joke!
Biden won't get half the 80% that Hillary got. Most likely Trump will get them.
1
It is often stated that many of Bernie’s supporters “defected” to Trump (or to Jill Stein) in 2016. Perhaps Bernie actually won voters who had been attracted to Trump or Stein, and these voters only voted for Trump or Stein in the general election because they found Clinton unacceptable.
Also remember that most of Bernie’s supporters did vote for Clinton and Bernie campaigned for Clinton.
1
Yes, classic southern line: "What we have here is a failure to communicate"
Great if Sanders vision is adopted and voters do prefer Change candidates vs Same Old Same Old candidates. But Sanders was angry and unaware in debates. And Biden was frustrated, angry and shrill. A relaxed and assured professional entertainer will eat either's lunch in fall debates.
But don't worry, it's statistically nearly impossible that, of the 67 million Americans between the ages of 35 and 65, any of those 3 unaware, annoying, out of touch candidates. Even if you limited it to elderly white males.
As a former Warren supporter, I now support Biden. I don’t know any other former Warren supporters now going for Sanders.
14
I agree that broad health insurance coverage is a family value and something we should work toward (like Obama Care tried to do!). However, ripping away my current coverage for my family, without much of a plan except yelling "Medicare for all!" into a microphone -- this does not sound appealing. I have a toddler, and excellent health insurance through my employer. If you want me to get behind sacrificing that current comfort for what might be the common good, I need a clear plan. As a family man, I am responsible for my toddler, not other people's toddlers.
7
@David Johnson
Sanders is not going to be "ripping away" your current coverage. There are many places to get the facts and figures. Here's one:
https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-plan-cost-inaction-policies-medicare-green-new-deal-1489016
I understand your concern for your own child; but we are social animals. If your child's uninsured friends get sick, s/he may lose them.
The Main Rreason That Democratic Party Lost to Trump in 2016 was because They Were Not Fighting For Something, but They Were Fighting To Stop Something (Fascism and Racism) or Somebody (Trump). It seems like Democrats are trying to repeat the same mistakes this year; both in The Primary (Stop Sanders) and The General (Stop Trump). History shows that Voters Respond To A Campaign That Offers Something or Ideas than the one that's just against something or ideas or Somebody. Democrats must come up with a Clear Vision and Irresistible Brand. Like him or not,Trump has an irresistible Brand called " Make America Great Again". Instead of offering her own irresistible Brand,Hillary and the Obamas wasted their time and energy trying to prove that America is already great. As we now know,many voters didn't believe that America is already great. Among all the two dozens democratic candidates,it's only one that has a Brand which is "For All" in terms of Medicare For All,Public Colleges For All,Government Should Work For All,Housing For All,This Country For All and not for the few wealthy people,and he also has a Motto which is " Not me,Us". Can anyone tell me the Brand or even the Motto of any other democratic presidential candidate besides "Defeat Trump" and "I'm The Most Electable" ? While defeating Trump might be the number one goal of tribal Democrats,it might not be the number one goal of Independent and Swing Voters who actually decide the outcome of any presidential election.
13
I reckon it's sour grapes that Warren won't endorse Sanders as he not her proved to be the sweetheart of the left.
By contrast, the moderates all endorsed Biden immediately after they pulled out.
5
Bernie called Warren a liar on national TV and she was furious...rightly so.
Warren took down Bloomberg because he funded her republican incumbent Scott Brown when she was running for senate
If there is one Achilles heel for Warren is that she is slow to forgive. Warren knows how to hold a grudge and she is doing it to Bernie right now.
1
Pointing out the obvious bias, there was no “panic” about Sanders, any more than there was a “panic” when AOC endorses\d Sanders after his heart attack. You are distorting what took place - a large number of highly respected politicians and candidates chose to endorse Biden. Hillary Clinton had the clearest explanation about Sanders - nobody likes him. That is both a major flaw for Sanders and a major plus for Biden, that no amount of twisting of events will obscure.
13
@LTJ
"Hillary Clinton had the clearest explanation about Sanders - nobody likes him."
Well, Hillary is certainly an expert on unlikeability.
But I'm not voting for someone I would like to have a beer with, or a glass of wine with in a wine cave, I'm voting for someone who inspires me and gives me hope for our country. And that would be Bernie.
3
Trump will eat Biden’s lunch. The assumption he is the “safe” candidate is just speculation. I will hold my nose and vote for him just like I did for Hillary.
But if I think he he is a gaff-ridden clown who uses totally out-of-touch language like “malarkey”, suggests he could have beaten up the president behind the gym, is a worse candidate than HC was, and didn’t have sense enough sense to tell his son not to monetize his name working for an oligarch in Ukraine, how can I reasonably expect a different outcome from 2016 now that Trump is an incumbent President with millions behind him and the entire federal government harnessed in his service?
African Americans may back Biden, but the idea that they are such “sophisticated” voters that we should trust their judgment as though they have a crystal ball is . . . well . . . malarkey.
2
Bernie is much too cool for the room as the Joe love upsurge confirms. We can still have our FDR moment if only the remaining states don't follow the stunted South's lead. We have an opportunity to overhaul the moribund Democratic Party with visionaries vs. a return to the past. 45 is a difficult challenge, but I can envision Bernie defeating this scourge whereas Joe would falter early on I fear. This is Judgement Day for the electorate and it looks grim unless there is a second wind for the Bern.
9
Based on my personal observations and prediction four years ago in 2016, Trump Would Win A Second Term As President If Bernie Sanders Isn't The Democratic Nominee. Four years ago I was surprised to see many socially conservative people here in Pennsylvania support Bernie as their favorite democratic candidate,but said Trump is their second choice if Bernie couldn't make it. They also said they will never vote for Ted Cruz or Hillary Clinton. Based on what they said then,I said in summer 2016 that Trump will be the President when Bernie dropped out. That Exactly Happened. It seems like exactly the same thing will happen in 2020 if Biden is the Nominee. Just like Bernie himself,many of his supporters are politically independent though they officially register as Democrats. Unlike the older traditional Democrats who will usually vote for any democratic nominee,many Sanders supporters are person-voters instead of Party voters. That means if Sanders isn't the presidential Nominee,they would not even remember the general election date in November. On the other hand,democratic Party would prefer the worst Republican President to anti-establishment Independent Senator becoming a democratic nominee and eventually a democratic president. There's Higher Probability That Biden Will Become Democratic Nominee And It Will End Exactly Like 2016. So any day you hear that Bernie Sanders is not the democratic Nominee,just prepare yourself for Trump additional four years as the President.
11
What are your arguments for guaranteeing a Sanders victory over Trump?
The reverse of “Sanders supporters won’t vote for anyone else” is “Independents won’t vote for Sanders”!
Biden got as many voters as he did because they were caught up in the moment, with the "moderates" which are really very conservative in this day and age all closing ranks around Joe Biden, the weakest candidate that ever put his hat in the ring. But the media and most people don't realize that the "block" of small southern states that went for Biden over Sanders are already quite conservative and they are going to be red states in November. The states that matter, the ones that a Democrat needs, is California, New York and Florida -- yes, we've voted blue and don't give up on this state with all of its Hispanics -- and thus, I think this entire situation has been wrongly interpreted by a manipulative DNC and media that is complicit. I am a lifelong Democrat, and what I've seen in my sixty years is this country going m ore and more conservative, turning its back on the legacy of FDR and Harry Truman, the labor unions that worked so hard to raise the standard of living for all of us. The Democratic bosses are frightened that Bernie Sanders stands to threaten their fat cat donors. Time to bring this country back to sanity. Sanders is an FDR reformer. It is Sanders, not Biden, who has the best shot at winning against Trump. I play pickle ball with a man in his 80s and he's said he's voting for Trump for the first time ONLY because the economy is so great. You think Biden will persuade this guy to vote otherwise? NOT. Sanders would.
12
Virginia is not small and is a crucial part of any winning formula. Massachusetts and Minnesota are not in the South. Bernie “won” California 33 to 25 and lost big on Election Day itself. The premises of this argument are false.
1
Unfortunately for Sanders, the coalescence of the public towards Biden may not be overcome, reason being, Sanders needs to be more upfront with voters, he has been in this business long enough to know that what he is proposing is not feasible at this time, first let's take Universal Health, most of his supporters are in the belief that this can be implemented during his first year in office, it is a fallacy, first legislation needs to be written if anyone thinks this is a simple task it is not, Presidents do not write legislation it is done by both the House and Senate, there will be court challenges brought by Hospitals, Physicians, Insurance Companies, in any event, the cost is extreme and with the economy left by Trump it being a 20+trillion deficit, there will be a markdown of the Taxpayer's credit card, it took several decades during a different period in history for Canada to be able to have Universal Health, our governments are similar when it comes to legislating, Sanders knows this will occur, he is aware that the tax hikes to the elite, will be challenged in court, at the end of the day, the elite are to make profits, and unfortunately we all know this comes on the backs of the middle-lower class, as in all industrialized countries infrastructure has aged and in many cases been neglected, this is the second challenge that we all have, again, taxes, it would be nice to forgive student loans but realistically the taxes gotten thru interest rates needed. Transparency?
3
Now that Elizabeth Warren has dropped out, I have a choice to make between the two people vying for the nomination and I haven't yet made up my mind. But I do not want to see either candidate tear the other to shreds to attain his goal. Yet the author encourages Mr. Sanders to "condemn Mr. Biden emphatically for his political record." There is then a link to a WaPo article citing Biden's vote for the Iraq War and trade agreements.
Concerning his vote for the Iraq War, his error (and not to minimize it) was that he assumed the President of the United States was telling the truth. But he was certainly not alone in this naivete. But Biden has admitted his error repeatedly. Sanders won't let go of this as long as he can score with it. And people of good will can disagree over the rightness or wrongness of trade agreements.
So my preference would be for Sanders to emphasize all the positive things he would like to accomplish rather than rehashing over and over again all the supposed and real missteps Biden has made in a long and distinguished career because (1) Biden just might end up being the candidate, so why do irreparable damage to him and (2) it's getting tiresome.
8
"It seems to me that Mr. Sanders will have to overcome his reluctance to go on the attack"
Seriously? He is always on the attack - and, fortunately, his path forward is very unlikely. Let's hope he doesn't go on the attack and provide more fodder for Trump. Let's hope he realizes this soon and focuses on endorsing Biden and working to defeat Trump instead of staying the course.
16
If Sanders does poorly in the next round of primaries that are coming up, he needs drop out and throw his support behind Biden. If he stays in and there is a brokered convention, he will lose and we’ll have 2016 all over again.
8
A big part of Biden's "strength" was in the South, states that will not go Democratic in the national.
Biden struggles to utter a coherent sentence. He doesn't listen. He has no vision. He's a little too "feely". His neoliberalism is simply not my taste and I suspect the same 100 million that sat it out in 2016 likely stay on their collective seats if he is the party's standard bearer, especially if there's any chicanery involved, again.
Bernie could actually usher fundamental change. I wouldn't count him out. At the beginning of the campaign, for most Bernie supporters, had you said Bernie would be one of the two last standing candidates (I'm abstracting from Tulsi), pretty much even in the delegate count, with 40% of the votes in and 60% to go, they'd be ecstatic.
6
In other words, Sanders has ideas and Biden has "decency". "Decency" is today's "Hope and change", a meaningless fog, meant to obscure a lack of commitment to progressive legislation and an allegiance to Wall Street.
9
"Most worrying for Mr. Sanders’s campaign, the hoped-for youth turnout did not materialize, while Mr. Biden enjoyed the kind of suburban surge that handed Democrats the 2018 midterms"
Head over heart. To win the White House and take back the Senate, the voters Bernie needs are simply not there. The voters that comprised the suburban surge in 2018 broke overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. The progressive heart wants Bernie but he doesn't have the votes, as proven again this very week. The author admits the facts, actual facts as opposed to modern-day alternative facts, let's hope that all Bernie supporters will process these facts and otherwise use their heads.
3
If you believe that Bernie should now turn up his attacks on Joe in order to succeed, you really have missed the message from last Tuesday. Bernie needs to be less scary, and less divisive, not more. It’s not actually his policies that are unpopular in the Party. It’s him and, well, far too many of his supporters that lack the virtue of civility.
8
@Thomas Higgins
"Less scary"?
You mean like calling a potential voter a lying dog-faced pony solider? Or challenging people to push up contests and calling them fat? Is that what less scary is supposed to look like?
1
I appreciate your passion for Sanders, but if he can't even prevail easily in the Democratic primary how will he really have a chance in the general election? I vastly prefer Elizabeth Warren to Bernie, partly because I think she's the most intelligent of all the candidates, but also because she's a loyal Democrat working to push a more progressive program within the party.
My hunch and hope is that she will endorse Biden out of her desire to present a united front in the fall. Bernie and many of his supporters have attacked Democrats as though they are as corrupt as the GOP and I partly blame them for why Trump and not Clinton is president. He conveniently becomes a Democrat when he wants to use the party's primary machinery to run for president. Much better than starting a third party that would very likely hand the election to Trump, but still...
Policies do matter, but Biden provides the best chance for enacting progressive reforms in the next four years. The Democrat must unify the party and, if successful, there is a strong chance to flip the Senate. If RBG is unable to serve beyond next year, then do we want to take even the slightest chance of nominating a candidate like Sanders who is not a loyal Democrat and stands little chance of fostering our much-needed unity?
2
I'm not sure what you mean by "that gambit is exhausted" when referring to the consolidation of center-left support behind Biden. As if candidates dropping out and endorsing is a one-time effect. It is permanent, and is a consolidation that will keep giving Biden center-left support the rest of the way. Face it, Biden and centrists candidates won about 55% of the votes on Super Tuesday, and now that Bloomberg is gone, even if 100% of Warren's support went to Sanders, he would peak at about 45%. His magical youth vote isn't showing up, and he doesn't really know how to convert them from rallies to the polls. That's his best argument for electability, and it is not happening.
5
Mixed bag of responses here, but the pro-Bernie ones seem unwilling to give up on the theme of radical change. Just be aware that the more you push left, the more the right will dig in their heals, and there are more fanatics on the right than there are on the left.
4
I'm having trouble listening to Biden talk. He is unable to communicate logical responses in all debates and interviews these days. It does not help to tip toe around this issue. The Republicans certainly will gut his "memory" issue and shred him to pieces.
But let's talk again after the next debate between Bernie and Biden.
15
Last night this idea came to me of Bernie going to Jay Inslee and asking him to head up a new Climate Crisis cabinet post. Better yet call it the Green New Deal cabinet post. Ask Inslee if he'll be on board to do this no matter who the nominee is. Throw in some details: money, free technical school to train those we'll need to make the GND real, etc. Then challenge Biden to see if he will follow this if he's nominated. Let's see which one even cares if we have families in the future.
If Biden wins, he's going to have to earn Bernie supporters. We can't be bought by Bloomberg, but we don't come completely free either. We need policy.
7
@sherry
If Bernie is the nominee, he won't have to "earn" my support, even though I don't agree with many of his policy proposals.
I understand that it is very important for a Democrat to win the Presidency.
Bernie, like Biden, will lead the country in a good direction. That's all I need to know in order to vote for him.
6
This is a false story and wishful thinking. The author needs to face facts and a good place to start would be the Cook Political Report. The remaining states in the Democratic primary do not favor Sanders. The states Sanders won (CO, CA, NV, UT) had thousands of ballots cast before candidates (Buttigieg, Klobuchar), dropped out and Biden won South Carolina. Sanders no longer has this advantage and the dynamic has changed. In addition, Sanders lost states supposedly favorable to him (MA, MN, ME.) Biden is favored to win FL, MS, IL, and GA in the coming weeks. If Sanders loses Michigan next week, a state he won in 2016, the primary is likely over. The coming primaries are not states with significant Latino populations and blacks are not voting for him. It is too late for Sanders to change his message; it's obvious that moderate Democrats have spoken and got his message already. Sanders counting on winning the primary with 30% of the Democratic vote was only possible before the consolidation around one candidate.
10
I completely agree with the arguments here. Let’s look at the advantages citizens have in Europe and compare them with what we lack here.
6
Very sensible to state what should be obvious but isn’t to so many people.
When I started reading the OpEd, I said to myself, but isn’t this all clear to everyone? I quickly understood that my question to myself was the problem.
The unfortunate ideology of our nation which has been force fed to us as the famous American rhetoric and Dream is the culprit.
Most of us have lost the ability to think for ourselves and compare our system with others as objectively as possible.
We do not do that. When the Finnish President, a young and well-educated woman says what the author quotes, we don’t understand the irony.
Bernie Sanders is a wonderful man who wants to give us Rawlsian Justice. One on which we will go to sleep without worrying who we wake up as. With healthcare, education, childcare, clean water and air, living wage and long-term care worries out of our collective and individual minds.
Reminding everyone around us that what Bernie wants for us is what we actually want for ourselves and our loved ones.
Thank you Elizabeth for reminding us.
9
A YUUUGE thank you for bringing John Rawls into the debate. To me is mighty clear that Bernie is much more influenced by Rawls than by, say, Marx or whatever other left-wing thinker and/or policymaker. And that philosopher was (somewhat derisively?) called "Jesus" by his contemporaries...
3
I'll vote for whomever wins the Democratic nomination and expect the same from anyone who claims to value our democracy.
While I would prefer the Biden of 6 years ago to the one running today, I'm also very much okay with Biden running as a symbol versus Biden the man. To me, the symbol is moderation. I have no interest in cataclysmic change right now, I yearn for stability and sanity. This is a large part of why Bernie will never be my first choice. Do I want healthcare etc. etc., of course, but we need to remember that national culture is a giant ship and turns slowly.
If Biden becomes the nominee, I'm confident that Bernie will have a voice. If Bernie becomes the nominee, I hope he will offer the same.
Given the turn out for Biden in some of the key states, I'm a little calmer today. My bet is that Trump is freaking out bigly and he should be.
6
With all due respect, Mr. Sanders should explain how he plans to get his policies implemented, something he has no real track record of doing, and more importantly, how he intends to pay for them if and when he gets past that very real hurdle.
13
Bernie and his surrogates thought they could win at the convention w/ 30%, and that target is what they got on Super Tuesday. He should have tried to reach out to other Democrats, but he didn't even try to speak w/ Rep Clyburn of SC because he isn't pure enough for Bernie who didn't bother to go to Selma and just canceled going to Mississippi. 30% doesn't win the nomination.
11
I voted for Warren. If I had to make the choice between Biden and Sanders I’d pick Biden. I wasn’t impressed with Warren for her ideology, I was impressed by the approach she took to problems and her work on the CFPB. I was also thrilled the way she went after Bloomberg. I wanted to see her dismantle Trump with the same ferocity.
Given the race is now down to Biden and Sanders, I think Biden is more likely to bring a democratic Congress into office with him and actually have an opportunity to make progress. I find Sanders entirely too rigid and uncompromising and I don’t think he can flip the senate and he might even lose us the house. I think either will beat Trump.
10
Family values are generally identified with other qualities such as love, empathy, sacrifice, and joy. It is interesting to note that the author never imbues Mr. Sanders with these qualities. I have never seen the man genuinely laugh or take the time to listen to someone else's stories. All I tend to hear is the same stump speech laced with what some call passion, but which can also read as anger. His followers have a tendency to reflect this. He is driven by policy and ideology, and lacks the warmth of a family touch. I would love to read an article from Ms. Bruenig addressing these perceived family value shortcomings, since she neglects them here.
6
I do wish you would actually get out and talk to his supporters and maybe even attend a rally. I canvassed for Bernie just because my teenagers supported him and I wanted to understand what they saw in him. His supporters were thoughtful, caring people. 
I also attend a rally. It was by fair the most diverse rally I had attend this election season. And I saw & heard a completely different man then you’re generalized here. And this is a problem. Instead of really learning about the candidates, we listen to what others say about them. 
6
Maybe Bernie can change from the Revolution messaging to innovation, compassion and restoring democracy. that's really what his campaign is about.
8
If Biden is the nominee, the Democratic Party will lose in November. Why? Because his "restoration" appeal will leave many Americans cold. Voters have to aspire to a promising future. For all of his many, many faults Trump provides this; for different reasons, so does Bernie Sanders.
Nominating a nice guy--Uncle Joe--who happens to be part of a problematic political establishment, just won't get the job done. The other pressing concern about his candidacy is his diminished cognitive abilities. Watch the debates from this election season if you don't believe me.
12
@Killoran
Maybe what the number are telling is that many democrats are less persuaded that you would think by the socialist, revolutionary, anti-establishment get-to-the-'man' rhetoric. An this IMHO is a very good thing.
1
I think a second term for Trump, given all his faults and bad manners, is DOA. Either Biden or Sanders could beat him. I am more concerned with which one of these men would make the better president. That accolade I cannot give to Mr. Biden. He has been very fortunate that a less than candid media has been very favorable to him. His record as a member of the Senate and later as VP has been less than I would want in the next leader of the free world. Sanders has many noble and some lofty goals, all of which I mightily approve. They are all possible. He is not re-inventing the wheel, but trying in no uncertain terms to show the American public what this country is capable of doing and accomplishing. We can be better than we are. The time is now, the opportunity is there and only the will of the people is needed to be the best possible country.
6
Sanders won California and that is huge. "If California were a sovereign nation (2020), it would rank as the world's fifth largest economy, ahead of India and behind Germany"(wiki). This alone should make Sanders viable as Presence regardless if main Candidate. It would be huge mistake to overlook Sanders as Hillary did.
15
California has 38 million people and less than 10 percent voted in the primary. Any blue will do. California will vote for the democratic nominee whoever that will be.
7
@That's What She Said
Actually, it's not huge. With 87% of the California votes counted, Sanders has 135 delegates and Biden has 83 delegates. It's not winner take all.
2
President of California. Cool, dude.
There is the old Pete Seeger song, that many know, with the memorable line: "When will they ever learn". Although the song wasn't about the democratic party it might as well have been. They picked a "sure" winner in 2016 who gave us DJT. I know! But the electoral college still matters. And now they prepare to go down the same road with the ultimate political retread who can barely speak coherently when he isn't telling us how he got locked up in South Africa or proclaiming Hunter's innocence.
Fortunately, there are few flowers left in Obama's garden and soon, as the song said, they'll all be gone.
4
Universal Healthcare. The biggest economic argument for it is that it would unleash the entrepreneurial spirit the country claims to have. From my own experience I opted to stay corporate rather than go out on my own because of the security attached to corporate sponsored healthcare when you have young kids. The current systems inhibits is from taking more chances
12
Can we please stop recommending we tear down the other guy in this case Biden as a recommended strategy. There is no question Biden's made mistakes over a 50 year career in public service but he's a good man. Bernie's also a good man but what he's uncompromisingly promoting isn't achievable quickly in this country and anathema to too many voters. You recommend that Bernie equate his rhetoric to more relatable concrete plans, that would be Elizabeth Warren. All Presidents who accomplished the most either needed a crisis or did it incrementally as Obama did with ACA, the next step is a public option, if Medicare for all is best which I believe it is many will flock to a public option. Equating what we need to what Finland does is nice but Finland is homogeneous 2% the size of the US. Today's only imperative is beating Trump! Please don't recommend that Bernie help Trump by tearing Biden down.
8
Good point about the family values aspect of Sanders's proposals. There is also a strong reparations aspect when you consider the practical effects of universal healthcare and the other policies put forth in restoring unjustly lost wealth.
Older black voters in the south, who bought into the patronage system of the democratic party as their avenue to power have not recognized how that system also has kept them down. Younger black voters see that failed system clearly. Apparently we have to wait for the demographics to shift since apparently you can't teach old dogs new tricks.
As for beating Trump, Biden won't budge any Trump supporters. Sanders will. The anti-establishment crowd on the left and the right (which was a large part of Trumps victory) will hew to Sanders as the real deal. In the meantime, centrist democrats will recognize that Sanders is not only radically better than Trump, he is not that radical. Sanders will gut Trump in campaign debates. Trump will fillet Biden in Debates. That is the consideration to account for in general election "electability".
9
I agree with Elizabeth Bruenig. At the heart of Bernie Sanders’ message is the strengthening of the American family. Healthcare for all, living wage, tuition-free public higher education, free childcare, and the rest of it are really about giving American families a fair deal now and a hope for a better tomorrow. We as a nation has drifted so far, we see these rather modest calls for basic decency to be radical and socialist. Indeed, moderate Democrats and Republicans have NO answers when it comes to how ordinary Americans can have stable families under the current system despite working full-time near minimum wage jobs that provide no health insurance and other benefits. We see the harsh truth of this all around us—broken families and broken lives with nearly 1 in 5 children in poverty in America.
While I support Bernie, he’s recent faltering shows that he’s not a focused messenger on his family values candidacy. It might not be random that Bernie did so well in Nevada when his campaign was focused on healthcare and then faltered when he started picking fights over the Cuban Revolution and its literacy program. If he’s going to win Michigan and Washington, he’ll have to focus on family values once again. And when it comes to Florida, he’ll have to let the Florida voters know from his deepest and most profound conviction that he cares more about healthcare, climate change, and living wage than re-litigating the Cuban Revolution.
13
Somehow I’ve missed the “family values” emphasis in Sanders’ campaign speeches.
Family values start within families with respect to others. Sanders is always shouting, always being “right” in his left leanings. He makes good points, has great ideas, seductive promises - Free health care! Free child care! Free college!
Dads and Moms have to work. Have to make compromises. Have to show compassion. Have to understand and protect. Have to work well with others and teach that skill. Inspiration vs perspiration and all that.
I don’t see it in Sanders “family values”. Anger and using anger to rally the crowd got us where we are with Trumpism. Swinging the pendulum too far to the left will leave more anger on the right.
A quieter status quo may not be a bad thing.
And as others have commented: act local, participate local; all year, not just every four years in our American Idol style national election game. Work from within. Send better members to Congress and your State House. And make them represent you. That was the original idea.
1
I like Bernie’s proposals, a I voted for him. I won’t benefit from most of his programs, and I’d probably be asked to pay more than I get back.
Biden, on the surface, will cost me less in taxes, but as an investor I see a different picture. Too little investment in your people will cost more in the end.
Failure to fix the healthcare system will continue to waste corporate, worker and tax dollars on a system larded up with middlemen and opaque charges.
Failure to improve on childcare will entrench inequality and the social problems it engenders, costing us in lost productivity and law enforcement/prison bills.
Failure to tackle the student loan crisis and make college more affordable will doom a generation or more to a stagnant or declining standard of living.
If Biden wins over Sanders, and wins in November, will,Democrats use the opportunity to address these underinvestment in a significant way? Many of us progressives have serious doubts based on past performance. These problems have festered under administrations of both parties.
26
@Jazz Paw I wish I could just recommend this comment over and over.
Bernie has failed at expanding the youth vote which is at the heart of his electability argument.
The most robust turnout was in states that went heavily for Biden like Virginia and Tennessee and Texas where Biden pulled off a surprise win.
Without the youth vote, Sanders can't win because he has little appeal to moderates and disenchanted Republicans. He is a decent man, but he will sink us if we nominate him.
10
Contrary to what the Democratic Establishment are saying,Bernie Sanders Will Deliver The White HousTo Democrats November 2020. Bernie Will Be The Nominee.He's the only candidate that's being taking on big corporations and their owners for the good of ordinary people. Ignore all the Pundits,Vote for the best candidate that cares about people like you. Obama said in 2016 that "Trump Will Never Be Elected President" of the United States,but here we are. If Trump could be elected the President with majority in the Senate and the House of representatives in 2016,anyone can be elected President. Bernie is a 'once in a generation politician'. Whether you agree with him or not,it's hard to see an independent politician that's not corrupted by any of the two big political parties. We may disagree with Sanders in terms of policy or political philosophy,but I haven't seen A HONEST CARING COMPASSIONATE AUTHENTIC POLITICIAN like him. Many try to sound like him,but their past records show they're representing corporations against ordinary people and the environment. And If Democrats Elect a Nominee like Biden,Who Supported The Disastrous Iraq War That Cost Millions Of Lives and Job-killing Trade Deals That Cost Millions Of Jobs,Trump Will Tear Into Him And Eat His Brunch In General Election Just As He Did To Hillary And Jeb Bush 2016. Bernie's The Best. This Is A Rare Opportunity To Nominate A Rare Honest Politician Called Bernie And He'll Surely Be Elected The President in November 2020.
8
Everything about Sanders' platform is entirely sensible, doable, and moral. But he's not the one. He comes from an old-fashioned lefty-ism, weighted down by hidebound notions of ideology and correctness. He's abrasive in a time where everyone is sick to death of that.
This standard should be carried by someone much younger – AOC when she's gotten her sea legs maybe, or someone else we haven't heard from yet – someone who isn't my dad's age, or my age. This kind of change needs a person who has the future in front of them, and most importantly, understands the way people live now.
Sanders isn't asking for anything radical at all. I do hope his goals are channeled soon, through more youthful energy.
6
Bernie Sanders is the obvious nominee. He would make a vociferous opponent to Trump. He inspires people's enthusiasm in a way that Biden just doesn't. Just judge the man on his policies and political record, he has fought for EVERY American throughout his entire career. America, finally, and desperately, needs progress.
I will also say that the Liz Warren supporters currently swapping alliances to Biden need to seriously assess their own privilege. This is genuinely a matter of life and death for so many Americans and it is entirely baffling to me that the majority don't and won't understand this.
12
@Georgia
If it's a matter of life and death, than having a president with a viable strategy for actually passing bills is even more important. Bernie fails to do that.
6
Unfortunately, stating clearly that Americans should have what Europeans, Canadians, Australians, and some others take for granted gets spun as unAmerican. It is absurd of course, but the fact that we are not number one inspires hatred of the messenger more often than it inspires motivation to do better.
11
Gee, great idea, Elizabeth! Have Sanders spend his time beating up on Biden instead of focusing on the common goal of beating Trump in the next election. Watch out when you call for intra-party warfare, though; Sanders has certainly provided ample material with which Biden could retaliate.
7
Sorry, but Bernie Sanders can't have it both ways.
He can't relentlessly call for a "revolution in this country" and then pretend that what he is trying to achieve is non-revolutionary, just because things like nationalized healthcare are so commonplace elsewhere. What he consistently fails to address is the enormous disruption required to achieve just this one goal of his alone.
With respect to Prime Marin, the American Dream has never been about what the government gives the citizenry. It's about the government getting out of the way of what the citizenry wants to give itself.
Sanders' America will not be the place where a person can rise or fall on his or her own, but will be comfortable enough within the limits proscribed by government. It's not the place where an immigrant burning with creative passion will come to start a business, but a place which draws immigrants for benefits as good as those in Finland.
So that is the real revolution Bernie is calling for, a re-envisioning of what America is about.
Fine. Maybe it's time to update the rugged individualism which is the American Dream. God knows we could use a lot more Finland. But let's not pretend that we're not talking about a revolution.
3
His track record - or lack of a track record - for getting anything done speaks for itself. Sorry, Bernie, as the fortune cookie says, "the past is the best prediction of the future". Biden for President.
8
I don't think Bernie is going to stop describing his campaign as a political revolution. People admire most his consistency and passion -- imagining a Bernie who could shape his message to take advantage of political realities is as good as saying he shouldn't be representing the progressive wing of the party.
1
I’m baffled by Bruenig’s insistence—once again—that Sanders attack Biden for his “corruption and impropriety.” What is she talking about?
It’s Sanders’ MO to go after his opponent as a corrupt tool of the establishment, and himself as the only true champion of the People. He’s never been reluctant to do this, and I suspect he really believes it. In doing so, he feeds into the propaganda that Trump and the right will push if Biden wins the nomination.
I would rather see both Democratic contenders treat each other with an eye toward the general election. I don’t find specious ideological attacks helpful at this precarious moment in history.
8
@SandraH. Sanders did a lot of damage to Hillary in the 2016 primary. He's the one that started heavily pushing her as being corrupt. Not to say this was the only issue with Hillary, but Trump took much of his talking points from Sanders and just intensified them. Bernie might do the same here with Biden.
4
A bigger mistake could not even be contemplated. These are simply two men with two different philosophies.
However, to me, neither ideology matters more than defeating The Donald. Bernie's socialism makes him a really easy target as most voters IMO don't even comprehend macro theories of each ideology.
The simplest fact to remember is Biden has always been a Democrat who was Obama's VP choice. And revolutions can be accomplished with tact, diplomacy and humanity.
1
We get the argument that many European countries have these benefits already. What this article, and Sanders' campaign, is missing is how Sanders plans to implement these programs in a government that has three branches and two parties of which Sanders' isn't a key player. Bruenig suggests it's as "simple" as voting for Sanders in the ballot box. I hate to break it to you, but it is not. It is actually very complex. Think about Sanders' effect down ballot for starters. Bruenig suggests, "revolution need not mean what voters fear in the word: chaos and strife." Umm... what country have you been living in the last four years?
5
Bernie has done a poor job of explaining Democratic Socialism, such that the second word of that phrase still carries for many people the idea of a dictatorship, of Russian communism. He claims, rightfully, that we already have socialism - but the benefits, funded by our taxes, aid the rich far more than the middle class and poor. He needs to explain how subsidies and tax breaks to large corporations work and how democratic socialism - universal health care, etc - would work, how it would be funded.
1
While this piece is calmly and logically written, it incorporates much of the delusion that characterizes Bernie supporters; that the large majority of Americans for whom Bernie is too far left will somehow just go away. And that those who support someone else, either Hilary in 2016 or Biden now, are either disingenuous or being duped by the “establishment.”
This kind of thinking characterizes protest candidates, and Bernie is definitely that. While I agree with almost all of his rhetoric around what’s wrong with America, I have little faith in his solutions as they are proposed, and zero faith that he would be able to get anything done in Washington. His exceedingly thin record of legislative achievements in his 30 plus years in congress reinforces this as much as is necessary. He’s a great complainer, and little else.
The Bernie phenomenon, to me, is a lot like what MoveOn.org has devolved into. I signed up for that with enthusiasm in 2008. Now, I stay on their mailing list mainly to amuse myself at the various ways they spin whatever current event into (a) outrage and (b) an immediate plea for fundraising. Bernie does the same thing. It’s basically peddling outrage, and it’s no way to govern.
13
Bernie won't win the nomination and has no chance against Trump because the majority of America does not want socialism. You cannot compare Finland who has a homogeneous population of 5.5 million and an unemployment rate of 10% to America. There are many failed versions of socialism throughout history that you choose from. Bernie holds an idolized fantasy of Castro/Che Guerva and Cuba from his youth. In his mind, Bernie thinks that he can do socialism right with the right resources. But, that belies the fact that most Americans do not want to work harder to pay for other people who do not want to work. Socialism disincentives a certain percentage of the population to not work. Everyone wants time with their family and kids, but someone has to pay for it. Don't worry, it's only the millionaires and billionaires who will pay, not you or I. Yeah right. Why would you trust Trump with all the fake promises and then believe that <1% of the population can pay for free school, free college, free healthcare, and free childcare?
There should be social safety nets and definitely room to improve in America, but socialism is not the answer if America wants to be the world leader to protect democracies and freedom in the world. There has been no other agent to reduce the sheer number of people out of poverty in history as capitalism. Make it better, don't call it evil.
6
@JD have you ever experienced Socialism working for the people? I did in Canada- it lifted up my working class family so I could go to College for free, have health care when needed, and eventually it paid for me to come to Grad School in the US. I bought a house immediately because I had no College debt. Sure this is an n=1 scenario, but I know many who continue to prosper because of the government funded programs. I now pay $6,000 a month for childcare in the US. That is a problem. I also get barely 8 weeks off with my newborn children. There are fundamental ways in which we can improve America where the middle class will not get savaged. If anything, it will lift them up.
11
@Melanie First of all, Canada is not a socialist country but it does have socialized medicine. My experience from good ol' America is parents with 4th grade educations who made between 6-24K per year who immigrated and raised 6 kids who all worked really hard in school and part-time jobs to help the family. All would be considered successful now. 2 of my 3 best friends from grade school went to jail, one for life and another dead from HIV in jail. I funded myself through college with merit based scholarships and Pell grants. I paid my own way through grad school myself. So, when you come from a 3rd world country, then you see the limitless opportunities and the land of Freedom. But others simply do not take advantage of the ability to pull yourself up. I cannot control how others raise their kids or motivate them in school. Simply paying for Pre K-college does not guarantee good parenting or good decision making. If you are paying 6000 per month then you are choosing to at very high end schools. I cannot afford that, but I do pay $1400. That is your choice of city or school and obviously you can afford that.
I don't think you can say anything about California as there were so many people who voted early. Next week we'll know who is the most viable candidate. My guess is Biden will win by big margins just as he did in states where early voting was either not available or wasn't used as heavily.
4
Unfortunately if you look at most of the people at his rallies, they are young people, college students, many of which are still filled with idealism and naivete. And many are first time voters, eager to rebel against a traditional choice. But these voters don't show up at the polls. Any excitement is not translated to votes. All across the primaries voters 30 and under were a truly minor part of the electorate, in every case under performing against what Sanders says should be excitement to drive turnout. His promise to drive turn out by getting first time voters is just turning out to be hyperbole.
4
I think you have this backward. Sanders may have some good ideas that match what we see in Europe, but the mistake he (and Warren) made is he's running on those ideas. The majority of voters are scared of those ideas, and the GOP is doing a good job of scaring them, When Obama ran I don't remember nearly as much quasi socialist cant. He waited until he got elected and then pushed through the ACA, but he had to short cange it because conservative Democrats were afraid of the single payer idea. Job 1 is get elected and then see what you can get done.
3
In the first half of the 19th century, America not yest 100 years old, even foreign observers such as de Tocqueville and Martineau were able to see a connection between America’s corrosive hyper-individualism and the early influences of what would become an equally corrosive capitalism.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...
5
I hope he isn’t the nominee, but, if he is, then I’ll contribute and work to get him elected. Can the Sander’s supporters say the same about Biden?
7
I will be perfectly content to vote for Biden (or one of the guys who just delivered my new washing machine, or the pleasant barista who just sold me my gluten-free snacks for the week, or one of the homeless people in my town, or one of the volunteers who help tend to their needs, or...just about anyone), but I still support Bernie, and I love the points made by Ms. Bruenig here. Being able to make sure that our children are well cared-for, well-educated, well-fed, and safe, is (or should be) a basic human instinct, and should be a basic human right.
I have to agree that it's some of Senator Sanders' supporters who need to re-think HOW they express support for him. Today on Instagram I read a comment by a young man about how he doesn't understand why "boomers" don't understand that Bernie is NOT even close to being anything like Trump. I had to point out that I am apparently a "boomer" (born in 1961), but that I'm perfectly capable of figuring that out. I told him that throwing around labels and assumptions about people is merely destructive and divisive, and doesn't help Sanders' campaign. His response was that I'm not a boomer if I support Bernie. That was not, of course, my point.
The slogan "Not me--us" is a very good one. But we need to leave the "versus them" concept out of it. If one really cares about ALL of us, regardless of gender, race, social status, religion (or lack thereof), age, nationality, etc., it seems very clear to me that Sanders is the best choice.
6
People who have nothing, are in debt and earn low wages love the free stuff Bernie is offering.
But the people like me who worked their way through college, saved to send my own kids to college while saving for my retirement and paying taxes on every penny of my salary - well- I need a lot more information.
What will these new plans cost me? How much more will I be asked to pay? Until Bernie can answer that - I am sticking with the moderates.
18
Those assuming Warren supporters will naturally flock to Bernie ignore an extremely important and fundamental difference between them. Warren is a capitalist down to her bones. She believes in a market-based system, so long as those markets are well-regulated and fair. Bernie is, to his bones, a socialist who believes in centrally-planned and government run programs in every part of our lives. Warren backers know this and are more likely to shift to Biden.
10
@ERM
Wrong. Bernie is a social democrat with policies that actually promote individual freedom. Just imagine what your possibilities would be if you weren't shackled to your employer by that health care leash!
@ERM Yep, that's a fact.
Totally agree. I think it should be a marker of a kind, sophisticated, yet realistic mindset that these benefits should be provided through the government. As a civilized society, everyone should be entitled to these benefits. Capitalists and markets have their place but they don't need to define every single aspect of daily life in the United States. Rugged individualism has reached its limits. It's time to pull back a little and do some corrections where needed. I get Sander's revolutionary approach but maybe once this whole thing is over we will have at the very least moved Sanders ideas closer to the mainstream and the revolutionary label will no longer be needed. Wishful thinking, I know. For one, I think the moderates need to at least acknowledge the strength of the progressive movement. It goes both ways.
4
@JES Correct. Most Warren voters were Hillary voters in 2016. They have already said no to Bernie once.
Black voter here. The only thing in "disguise" is Sanders' support and effort to gain the whole support of the African-American community.
And it's not the first time.
He also lost ground in South Carolina in 2016, and just now again.
On top of that -- he just pulled out of a rally in Mississippi.
So forget all those commercials and talking points about Obama.
If you can't get the Black Democratic voting base, you don't have a multicultural working-class base.
Bernie's done.
452
@N. Smith Totally agree and thank you. I'm curious whether there's something you think he should have done differently, or whether his platform inherently will not find traction among black voters. I'm also curious what specifically about Biden, apart from political associations, makes him the choice candidate among black voters.
31
@N. Smith He has black voters under 40. And black voters from the coasts and from the North, largely. (According to another NYT article today.) He just doesn't have older black voters from the South. (And they obviously really matter, and I feel for them, but still--they're not all black voters.)
97
@N. Smith
Bernie Sanders is being strategic about his rallies. I believe he is going to Michigan instead of Mississippi. The unfortunate fact is that states like South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. will vote Republican anyway in the general election and Michigan is a much bigger piece of the pie to grab. It is in no way a snub to African Americans. Rather look at the issues: Mr Sanders' policy ideas will help most of the African American population much more than the traditional Democratic platform will. Please, vote your interests! Finally, Bernie Sanders has a long history of fighting against discrimination, going back to the 1960s. This should matter to you all.
186
Excellent article ! Thank you Ms.Bruenig . Quite frankly nowadays it is quite rare to read such a balanced and sensible opinion column at NYT.
5
You've advocated that Sanders launch a full-scale assault against the candidate who, let's face it, is more likely to become the nominee. Remember what Kellyanne Conway said about Hillary Clinton after the last election? "Sanders softened her up, and we took care of the rest."
And you're willing to take this risk in the service of social welfare programs that Biden would have at least as good a chance at passing as Sanders. Everything else that separates the Sanders platform from Biden's is off the table for the next presidential term. Ain't gonna happen.
Instead of swinging for the fences, why don't you insurgents concentrate on winning local and district elections, to lay the groundwork for an eventual progressive presidency? Who in their right mind believes that you can take the most left wing member of the Senate and elect him president in a country that today still mostly identifies as center-right?
20
Has it occurred to this writer that perhaps Bernie’s premature celebration is because most Democrats don’t like him?
It’s funny how the true believers can rationalize anything about Sanders, except for the fact that the majority of Democrats seem to like Biden and think he can win.
13
Like your Silach'y you carefully avoid discussion of how to pay for the beneficial programs you promise. It can be done, of course, and Elizabeth Warren made a start at it. But it's much easier to just shout at those who ask, isn't it? A chicken in every pot and a trip to the big rock candy mountain.
3
Sanders can't win. Period. So, he hardly can win it all.
11
Sorry, but I don't see it. He might win in a landslide of registered voters who don't actually vote, i.e. young people.
Young voters overwhelmingly like Sanders but accounted for only 10-15% of total voters in many Super Tuesday states.
USA Today stated that in Texas 15% of voters were under under the age of 30. In 2016, it was 20%.
Overall, Sanders is doing worse than he was at this point in 2016. And new polls are turning against him. A Florida poll just came out today with Biden at 61%. A Michigan poll came out yesterday with Biden beating Sanders. Michigan is Sanders territory. The tide is turning.
7
@Jeff It's important to look at where Biden has won primaries in the context of where he could actually win in a general election. Since Klobuchar turned her support to Biden the day before the primaries, it is not a sign of anything that he took that state. Much of the rest of his primary win involved Republican states where Trump will win in any case, making them somewhat throwaway victories.
1
@Fern - Both Michigan and Florida were won by Obama twice. These are states the Democrats need to win back. They are also big delegate states in the primaries. With Bloomberg out, New York will almost certainly go Biden. Another blue state with a lot of delegates.
Sure, Biden will also win Missouri, Mississippi and Georgia against Sanders and lose them to Trump, but those ere just icing on the Biden Nomination.
FYI ... I'm in Florida (and I voted for Biden by mail on Monday). Bloomberg was the only other option I considered.
@Jeff Both Michigan and Florida were taken by Trump in 2016. Biden is not Obama, who was fully alert and oriented, possibly without exception, when campaigning.
Bernie doesn't listen to anyone's advice. The only skill he has learned is giving the same speech over and over again. When he attacks the establishment and that includes all Republicans and all Democrats who don't share his views he cannot win. Warren who fought for the working class, a mayor of a small town, and Beto are not "establishment" they are Democrats he doesn't agree with.
Whether or not he was advised not to, continuing to praise Castro was so ill advised politically. Americans will not trade better education for life under Communism, and he doesn't even understand that.
A predictor of this was when in the early caucuses and primaries he got about half the support he got last cycle. He never tried to broaden his appeal, and never will. Even Trump understands that Biden will be harder to beat than Bernie. I was myself much more attracted to the younger, more articulate candidates who were running, but right now, I will vote against Bernie with no reservations.
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@Jerry S Republican, or whistling in the dark?
Two things are striking here: first, how many times Ms. Breunig needs to tell herself things that plainly aren't true in order to identify Bernie's path to the nomination (the delegate count is almost tied, the states to come are more favorable, Warren supporters will shift to Bernie).
The second is that to imagine Bernie winning, she has to imagine a flexible, pragmatic, responsive version of Bernie that has never existed in the past and, given that the man is 78 years old and has been doing this for 40 years, is very unlikely to emerge now.
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If Bernie is truly a “family values candidate in disguise,” I suggest running for the presidency is the wrong time to play hide and seek with voters. On the contrary, his rhetoric calls for destroying institutions in order to build a better world—a message that is too similar to Steve Bannon and the other anarchists responsible for the current catastrophe.
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@angus
You've been listening to too many billionaires. "Destroying institutions" is reckless hyperbole, considering Bernie does not suggest anything that does not exist in most successful European countries already. His policies will hurt medical insurers. Boo hoo!
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@angus Oh please, Bernie is the opposite of Steve Bannon. What did Bannon propose to rebuild after his protege Trump tears everything down?.. that's right - NOTHING - what's left is a Putin style network of cronies with immense power - the ruling class. Bernie, on the other hand, is trying to bring down the obscene gap between the very wealthiest among us and the rest of us. How many Americans will pay more in taxes for an even greater return by virtue of free health care? Answer, many.
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@angus Comparing the Jewish candidate to Steve Bannon reveals a very thin problematic understanding and is a tremendous false equivalency. When you actually consider what extending an existing state-run insurance program to the population sits on the ideological scale, the comparison to anarchism is a laughable contradiction of terms.
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Biden clearly has cognitive issues and has probably had a mini stroke or two.
His VP choice will be important.
Most dems are voting out of fear vs. what they want.
Fear of 4 more years of Trump.
Biden is Trump light but a much nicer person.
Lloyd Blankfein and his Ilk are quite happy right now.
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This man is like Trump. He never truly wanted to be president. Just give him a cabinet post so he can go away.
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Hmm... Bernie needs to change Bernie. Stop acting like a left-wing version of Trump seeking to destroy whatever he disagrees with. We’ve already had three years of that approach.
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I guess when she talks about Biden's "corruption" she means to echo Trump about Hunter. This is what we expected. In the end you would rather have Trump then any other Democrat.
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@Greg Jones
Moderates think Progressives will vote for them (unity! vote blue no matter who!) even though Progressives are not Democrats - they're Independents. Why would they vote for corporate shill Republican Biden?
They'd rather vote Trump - who is anti-establishment like them.
There are many problem with Moderates (other than that they are Republicans) but a big one is they're shallow thinkers who continually parrot their mainstream media programming. That's why their candidates are boring and idea-free.
@Fourteen14 So called progressives such as this reprise the Socialists who opted for Fascism in the 1920's. Mussolini started as the editor of the Socialist journal "Forward!" and he surely was not boring. Fourteen is exactly what I expected from the Sanders team and this is helpful to show that if we are to defeat Trump we must defeat his allies such as we see here.
You lost this anxious moderate active Democrat at the word "establishment."
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@Iowan Exactly why Trump is president. You want to be owned by the financial elite that run both parties. I don't. Most others don't, even republicans. Sorry you're self-inflicted anxiety is effectively promoting Trump. Try supporting integrity and uncorrupted morality for a change.
@trebor You lost this Democratic voter at "elite" and the implication that I lack integrity.
You're missing the point. I think a vast majority of Democrats already agree with Bernie's goals. What Democrat doesn't want universal health care now?! I know I prefer Bernie's platform to Biden's. The problem for Bernie is that an increasing number of Democrats understand that a self-avowed Socialist is simply not going to win in the swing states that matter in the coming election. And he's going to mess it up for the Democrats who managed to finally get elected in those states in 2018, probably resulting in turning the House, Senate and Presidency all bright red/Republican. That's why I'm not voting for Bernie, no matter how much I agree with his platform. We have to get rid of Trump.
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@Bob G. Forget about the general election- he can't even win Maine! Clearly the magic just isn't happening on the scale he'd need to beat Trump.
How Bernie can win it all? He can't.
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If the presidential race was between Sanders and Biden, I'd vote Sanders. It isn't. My candidate has to take 5-10% of Independent/Republican voters to ensure victory. Unfortunately Sanders can't do that. What Sanders can do is rally his movement in support of Biden.
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@Barry A nuanced perspective. Based on his very significant effort in support of Clinton last time (39 campaign events, very high voter conversion rate compared to, say, Clinton-to-Obama voters), he probably will. The question I have is, will centrists acknowledge this, or just run out the same narratives about him sabotaging her campaign as we're seeing in the current cycle? What can the centrists offer the progressive base to support them, rather than just assuming they deserve it?
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@Barry Sanders is the only one who can do that! Independents like me outnumber Dems and Repubs. We don't want establishment candidates from either party.
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@Barry You should cite data to support your misgivings. Fortunately for you, Sanders does better with independents than Biden by +4. That's according to Reuters--so go ahead. Vote for Bernie in the primary, as a treat.
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I'm not sure you can expect Warren supporters to go to Sanders. Some will, certainly. But I'm one of many people who liked her, would have voted for her, but doesn't think Bernie can defeat Trump. I do not believe he can bring over the anti-Trump Republicans, which the Democratic nominee will need to do.So at this point, I'm still planning on casting my ballot for Biden.
That said, if Bernie wins the nomination, I will definitely be voting for him over Trump.
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@Cathleen Do you remember how the 2016 election went? I genuinely want to understand how people think Biden will be different from Hillary.
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VB, if he's the nominee, Biden may well face the same fate as Hillary. This does not mean that Bernie can win. The sad fact is that they are both weak candidates for the general election.
We do remember it. And Bernie has no chance. There is no evidence the revolution will show up. They haven’t in the primaries, except for Biden. The situation is very different. No one thought Trump could win. We know differently now.
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This all comes off as somewhat desperate- Bruenig is so consistently biased for Sanders that I’m surprised she isn’t working directly on his campaign.
I don’t understand how Sanders’ Latino-driven support is supposed to do much down the stretch, given that California and Texas are already done. Is the plan to ride to the nomination off of dominating victories in... Arizona and New Mexico? And no, Florida Latinos are not comparable to Latinos in the western US- they’re mostly Cubans and South Americans who won’t stand for someone who talks about Castro in any favorable terms.
Florida and Georgia, alone, have over 70% of the delegates that California does. Both will be blowouts- Georgia’s Dems are a mix between southern black voters ala SC and highly educated wine track suburbanites, much like the ones who so decisively turned out for Biden in places like northern Virginia. In Florida, it’s not just his problems with Cubans, but also with old people.
Biden also presents a massive messaging problem for the Sanders campaign. How can you argue that your campaign is a voice for the marginalized, when the most marginalized demographic in this country’s history -poor rural black voters in the south- don’t support you? Sanders will need dominating victories in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania if he wants to stay competitive. An unlikely outcome given that he is far from guaranteed to win them at all.
Nice try, I guess. Let’s hope the Bros vote in November this time.
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Elizabeth Bruenig is absolutely correct and the numbers on healthcare don't lie. You can find them quite easily by searching 'per capita healthcare costs by country.' You'll find that even though we don't insure 26 million people in this country we pay more per capita than any other country on earth for healthcare.
Every country with socialized medical care pays less than we do per capita. In some cases they pay half as much.
In addition to these lower costs, the people in countries with socialized medical care live longer than we do on average. Do a search for 'life expectancy by country.'
Why do these countries pay so much less than us? Because they have no for-profit health insurance industry that tries to take as much out of the system as it can to pad the bottom line. The health insurance industry exists solely to make profits for the health insurance industry. These companies add immense complexity to the process of paying for healthcare, because that serves their interests. The more difficult it is for providers to get paid and for patients to get reimbursed the more likely it is that the insurer gets to keep more money.
You can rail at drug companies and doctors all you want, but they actually provide a product or a service that people need. All that health insurers do is put blockades up to keep you from accessing those services in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost.
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You think by emphasizing family leave, Sanders can find a new niche. I don't agree.
A 6 month paid leave will pander to a conservative's fear that people of color are having too many babies they can't afford on the government dime.
It would backfire enormously come November.
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@N The concerns you're raising is probably why older black voters are going to Biden. They believe the worst white people will rally to stop any progress that might include them. Therefore, they support the status quo.
They might be right. They lived through the Civil Rights era. They lived through the Reagan years when liberals stood to the side while Reagan dismantled the New Deal and the Democrats shot it in the back of the head.
Finally ... They've seen the rise of Trump. Obama used up the last of their hope and faith in the system.
So the suggestion is that Sanders should drop his rhetoric of revolution and socialism and approach issues in terms of discrete problems and progressive plans to address them.
IOW, Sanders should become Elizabeth Warren and “have a plan for that”.
I don’t think he can manage it. His self image is tied to his conception of himself as a radical outsider leading a socialist revolution, and he’s not good at the actual making a plan.
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Good column. I agree that even though we created the concept of the American dream, people in other countries are living it. I've always thought that a big problem with our form of capitalism is that it pits work against family. Should I take care of my sick child or get someone else to do it because job security is more important? Job security always seemed to trump home and family matters. Our capitalist system often seemed to be very anti-family. Even now, we have a population of workers who have to go in even when they're sick because they either have no sick leave or even those with sick leave are worried they might get fired for calling in sick on the wrong day. The American dream was our idea and hopefully Bernie Sanders can make it happen.
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Reading through these remarks it is clear we expect too much from any candidate.
Bernie has been relentlessly fighting for the working class for four decades, and now, when people are (finally) paying attention, we are going to nit-pick him because he doesn't have the right (superficial) personality traits.
Bernie is smart and he cares deeply. This is not some reality TV contest.
If he wins, we have to trust him and back him up.
He is smart enough to choose a cabinet of brilliant people who will also work hard for the working class.
Then we need to support him by electing the right congress to help him achieve what we all deserve.
He can't do these things alone.
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@KellieJW 'Electing the right congress ...' That's the problem. We will lose the House from moderate districts that flipped in 2018. Our Senate chances are already hanging by a thread. Bernie has antagonized so many in the DNC because he's "anti-establishment", he'll make it even more difficult to win those down-ballot races. He can be President that's true, but his every move will be blocked by #MoscowMitch.
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@KellieJW This isn't about nit-picking. He needs more people to vote for him which means he needs some moderates to see the light. He's loosing. The supposed groundswell of young people didn't turn out. Time to pivot.
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@KellieJW It's not just the cranky personality traits that hurt Sanders, although those traits are not insignificant; the ability to schmooze and negotiate with others has often marked the difference between successful and unsuccessful politicians. It's also that he's staking his candidacy on a Medicare for all plan that will not become law because it's not supported by a majority of Democrats in Congress, much less the entire Congress. Further, a majority of Democratic voters would rather build on the ACA than totally scrap the ACA and go to Sanders' M4A plan. And if he trusted in the American public to support his plan, he would provide details of how it could be implemented rather than throw out some vague back-of-the-envelope numbers that don't add up.
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Liz Bruenig is such a breath of fresh air at the Times.
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Lots of wishful thinking here. Fivethirtyeight.com has Sander's odds at winning the nomination at less than one in ten. Sanders has built up a career as being Democratic Socialist. I don't think he can change his brand this late in the contest or persuade voters that his brand of Socialism is a good idea. If he cannot persuade enough moderate Democrats to support him, he's probably not going to persuade adequate numbers of independents and Republicans.
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@Matthew
Agreed- and 538’s model hasn’t even taken Super Tuesday yet. This article is just self-soothing for the converted.
Sanders’ fans should confront the fact that eliminating private insurance, decriminalizing illegal immigration, and wiping out student debt are opposed by firm majorities, and Bernie shows no signs of compromise, pretty much throwing away Florida by insisting Castro had some great ideas.
It’s easy to be a purist when you’ve never had to actually build coalitions and govern.
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@Andy this just isn’t factual. Bernie has built numerous coalitions throughout his career and polls confirm that the majority of Americans support his Policies. Biden as our nominee will create the exact same conditions that got Trump elected in the first place!
This is the heart of the problem with Bernie. He does not emphasize the issues faced by women and children.
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Like health care, improving education, avoiding unnecessary wars, making the minimum wage a living wage, the Green New Deal...
This is grossly irresponsible thinking. We are either serious in our concern about the country, or we lapse into striking poses and game-playing, pushing someone who cannot win, but who continues to risk causing major issues down the line. This is 100 perfect the latter - in other words, perfectly in tune with the NYT endorsement of Amy Warren, or the 2016 equivalency implied between Hillary and Trump.
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Bernie is a perennial crusader. But he has not won any significant victory in his entire career in congress since 1991. Everyone admires his passion. Young people get mesmerized with his Utopian dreams.
It is all well and good, but the fact is that you need to be flexible and be able to work even with your adversaries to get something done. Democracy is the art of compromise and ability to build coalition of very diverse groups. Bernie is very stubborn and inflexible. Can anyone tell what legislative or policy victories he has achieved in his entire career in politics.
He is not the man of the times, and certainly not someone to sit at the helm of the most important democracy in the world.
Biden, in spite of all his shortcomings and past mistakes and miscalculations - yes, including giving us Clarence Thomas and torpedoing Anita Hill.
Yet, he is still our ONLY bet against a looming disaster. At least, he has a lifetime of experience in politics, certain integrity, ability to work across the aisles. There is hope he will get something done, or at least do no harm.
So, let's pray for America, the world, and do whatever we can to make sure he wins. Amen.
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@Neil Aggarwal
Amen!
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Spot on, about time something like this was published.
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You're right, Ms. Bruenig. Revolution was glamorous in the 60s & 70s. It isn't now. Also, Sanders has got to stop saying 'major countries', which is incredibly lazy, & instead tell us about particular programs & how they impact the lives of the people in those coountries. For example, France already had a great single payer health care system when I was there in the 70s. Canada has a really goood program for paying for higher education. & Germany has a 2-track system, which we should investigate. The devil - & the best solutions are in the details.
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It's over for Sanders. I already voted for him (early voting) and supported him, but the supposed groundswell has not come to fruition. Yes he was going to lose the southern states. But hopefully not the badly and he definitely wasn't supposed to lose Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas.
And that's with early voting heavily in his favor! Imagine what a bloodbath Super Tuesday could've been without it.
I'm fine with him going through the next couple of weeks in case something somehow turns around, but he needs to get out as soon as the writing is truly on the wall. The people have spoken, I don't like it and I think they're wrong, but that's that.
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Headlines for both Bernie Sanders and Warren proclaiming “Radicals!”
Really???????????????
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DREAM!!!
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If Bernie still wants a reasonable shot at the nomination then he needs to stop listening to his campaign staff, Twitter, and editorials like this one.
You don't figure out how to beat your opponent by minimizing their strengths, and Tuesday was a show of strength for Joseph Biden. There was nothing 'modest' about what happened to Sanders - he was trounced. He would have been beaten even more badly if so many votes had not been cast prior to South Carolina.
People want to beat Trump, and it is past time for Sanders to stop running against the Democratic party, which remains the imperfect, but sole obstacle to Trump's reelection.
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Elizabeth Bruenig is absolutely right. Bernie can win by accentuating the difference in his record versus Biden's (it is no coincidence that Bernie is doing quite well among Mexican Americans who are leery of the Obama administration record on deportations), and by emphasizing quality of life issues that are quite popular and represent a "common sense" platform attractive to suburban professionals and women. Indeed, since DC instituted free pre-k in 2008 it has seen some of the highest increases in the female employment rate (10%). A "Quality of Life platform can definitely win the presidency.
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If trump is possible, then why can't Bernie be possible?
It's that socialist label. One definition of socialism is "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism).
Now nothing I have heard from Bernie suggests that he is in favor of dismantling capitalism. . .instead he seems more interested in having the government act as a vigorous check on the excesses of capitalism. Some of what he has advocated regarding health care, education and consumer rights. . .sounds more like a continuation of the New Deal. . .Great Society programs that have been traditionally championed by Democrats.
And of course his appeal to Millennials cannot be ignored. . .their concerns are our concerns. We ignore this at our peril.
But still. . .it's that socialist label that is a problem. The last socialist to make a credible run for the White House was Eugene Debs (He ran multiple times). He didn't even come close.
True, this is the 21st, and not the 19th-20th Century; but unless their is a calamity that could rival the Great Depression, then no, I'm not seeing how a proud socialist could beat trump, despite all the merits that Sanders brings with him.
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As far as The Sandres/Biden divide is concerned, whoever ends up on top needs to remember this: One BIG thing that seems to be lost in all of the "celebration" of Bloomberg mot "buying" the nomination: The 1/2 billion he spent was aimed right at Donald Trump. It highlighted his failings and lies, his broken promises and absurd preening and most of all his failures of decency. He did the Dems an incredible amount of good with those dollars that all of the money hating grave dancers seem to have conveniently forgotten about. If the nominee does not remember the plan that Bloomberg drew, Trump will win again.
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@Steve Biasini Bloomberg has said he will support Biden. I hope he'll pony up for some of the mass mailings he sent out when he was running. I think those had a great deal to do with the rural turnout for Bloomberg. No one else even bothered to contact them.
@Panthiest the stuff he did in advertising was just really smart. It's hard to know about all the other stuff that went on but it was probably pretty sophisticated down the line. He's just not a very appealing candidate
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Well, so maybe now we can have some real, and civil, debates on the issues. Voters might actually learn something.
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