Sanders and the Realists

[kennetha]

Here is a thoughtful, balanced and honest piece, devoid of juvenile ad hominems.


http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/bernie-sanders-and-the-realists


Perhaps Sanders ought to refocus his arguments. Here are the things we can achieve now X, Y, Z. Though they may fall short of our ultimate dreams and aspirations, they are possible in the here and now. Here are some other things --- A, B, C -- that though not possible now may eventually become possible, if we achieve these other hard things things R, S, T. X,Y, and Z would be relatively small bore, defensive, and incremental. But this would sort of free him from having to nail down the details of how exactly the hard more ambitious A, B, and C should look. He would though have to have some concrete plans for making R, S, T come true.

Once reframed in this way, he starts to sound more like a "realist" but one who hasn't abandoned idealism or his ultimate ambitions. But he also sounds like one who acknowledges the difference between a wish and a plan. I could go for such a candidate.

[Kentonio]

1. It's amazing how many people are lining up to tell him how he should run his campaign.

Yet none of them suggested the course of action that's taken him from 4% to challenging for the nomination. It's almost like perhaps he might just already know what he's doing.

[draa]

7. Strange isn't it.

Back when they thought he had no chance he was ignored. Now that he has gaining momentum everyone has advice. And it's usually shitty.

[JRLeft]

12. TPTB, are saying please don't rock the boat we like the way things are.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. I guess they must have said that to FDR

He does have concrete plans except those at the top are standing in his way. They will soon have to stand aside.

[sadoldgirl]

3. I can hardly understand why this "realist" theme

comes up again and again. There is a good reason
why Bernie is called the "king of amendments", and
those amendments were passed in a realistic way.

That we also need someone who has a vision seems
to be totally unacceptable to some people, who have
only "no, we can't" as an answer.

[Ino]

4. Uh, what?

How is it a winning strategy to tell the other side what things you'll compromise on or don't expect to achieve?

I wonder how Hillary would like it if everyone said, "Oh Hillary, you don't really think a woman can win, do you? You're a major candidate, and that's all you can expect right now. You have to give the country time to get used to the idea of a female president. Incremental adjustments, that's the ticket! A VP slot will be hard enough to achieve. Maybe in 8 years you can try for more."

[cali]

5. It's a very good piece

[Bread and Circus]

6. Fair enough but I don't remember hearing Bernie promising anything or saying "it will happen"...

rather he has put out fairly idealistic policy proposals which are something we should all agree to strive for and fight for.

Nothing unrealistic about that.

[aikoaiko]

8. Key Sentence: "Sanders, however, didn’t get to where he is now by embracing political orthodoxy."

Of course, that goes back to the argument about realism, and the point that Sanders’s main goal is changing what it is considered possible. A more orthodox candidate might well indicate some flexibility at this point in his campaign, saying that his immediate priority as President would be raising the minimum wage, or providing free college tuition, or breaking up the banks, and relegating an ambitious health-care overhaul to the status of future goal. Sanders, however, didn’t get to where he is now by embracing political orthodoxy. He seems unlikely to change tack.

Bernie has been consistently doing it "wrong", but still increasing his support. He finds clever ways of addressing the next step.

[kennetha]

9. How does he get beyond this point

Right, he didn't get to where he is by embracing political orthodoxy. Question is can he get any further and what it would or would not take to get further.

[aikoaiko]

10. Heck if I know, but Bernie has mostly been sticking to his message; adjusting ever so slightly.

The author of the article in your OP might be right and Bernie might make that ever so slight adjustment to help build confidence.

I really don't know how much of what we've seen is Bernie's strategic and tactical plan or if its just Bernie, but its working.

Most candidates, not just HRC, are like hyperactive dogs inside a squirrel sanctuary -- chasing the next issue in the news.

Its frustrates special interests groups that feel ignored and frustrates the other candidates that Bernie won't play that game. But the best part is that those who say that his strategy will cost him the nomination are also frustrated because he keeps improving.

Bernie may not win the nomination, but I'm confident it won't be because he didn't follow custumary and usual Democratic campaign strategies. Well, mostly. There is one thing he didn't do that may in fact cost him the election -- he hasn't spent the last 25 years developing relationships with major national and international power brokers within the Democratic party and even outside the party. The Clinton machine has been playing a long game.

[kennetha]

11. That's because Politics mostly IS a long game

especially in a system like ours that has so many veto points, so much built-in inertia, and such widely distributed power. It was designed for stasis. Add to that the rise of hyper-partisanship and the infusion of huge sums of money -- things the founders in their supposedly infinite wisdom never even imagined -- and it becomes even more ossified and resistant to change. To change things in this system requires either moments of massive disruption -- like the combination of a depression followed by a war -- or an existential crisis like the civil war -- or a long, steady slow slog. We can all wish it were otherwise, but it isn't. If I were to design a political system from scratch in the here and now, it wouldn't be close to this one.

[aikoaiko]

13. Of course politics is mostly a long game, but compare Pres. Obama to HRC.

Obama national game began on 4 years before he was elected.

The Clinton machine is remarkable.