Bernie lost the primaries because he failed to see the importance of social issues

[riversedge]

I think most of us have talked or read about this since he entered the race--economic (class) issues always took the front berner for Bernie.




Bernie lost the primaries because he failed to see the importance of social issues.


By Danie06
Sunday May 22, 2016 · 2:24 PM CST


My diary is partly a reaction to this diary: www.dailykos.com/…

claiming social conservatives (you know: older women) support Clinton and that therefore Sanders is losing the primaries. For the other part this was a diary long in the making so to speak.

For some time Sanders’ supporters have claimed they represent the true progressives (from which comes the accusation they act like purists). Clinton supporters are usually denounced as establishment shills, or centrist democrats.

Yet when you look at the demography of who supports who a very different picture emerges.

Sanders support is mostly strong in one demographic group: young white males. Clinton however has the strongest support among women, older people, black voters and Hispanic voters.

In short: women and minorities overwhelmingly support Clinton.

Why is that? Why would for example black voters or women support Clinton over Sanders?

The answer lies imo in the fact that Sanders is a progressive when it comes to economic issues (class struggle, the 1%, campaign finance reform etc) but is tone-deaf when it comes to social issues.

Social issues like structural racism, reproductive health issues (abortion), women’s rights, gun victims rights, gun control etc.

In a way a lot of this can be explained by his socialist background. For socialists, social issues pertaining to race and sex have always had to take a backseat to economic issues.

I’m old enough to have experienced a lot of this first hand when in the seventies the feminist movement expected to gain support from white socialist males, but instead we were told to take a backseat: “first we’ll solve economic issues and then we’ll talk about gender inequality and/ or racism”.

Sanders is no stranger to this picture. Although no one should doubt that he supports women’s rights or gay rights (his record shows this), he’s never made these issues the core of his message. The core of his message is about economic inequality, the 1% and wall street.

When confronted with questions regarding abortion, he dismissed these by stating that Planned Parenthood is establishment......................



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[Thinkingabout]

1. For too many years, Hillary grew up in a time where women were hairdressers, school

Teachers, secretaries, she got a law degree and entered the job market. It was still a lot of a "man has to take care of their family" so get back and go elsewhere. This struggle is not new to Hillary, we who went through these time understand the struggle, not so sure about Sanders.

[Her Sister]

2. He attached himself to one way of thinking years ago when he became an adult

and he never let go, never grew it, developed it, no depth, no extra gravitas

stunted it right there!

[Cha]

3. Yes, that's one important reason he lost.