Commentary: To Democrats, Bernie Sanders is a realist

[Uncle Joe]

ByKatrina vanden Heuvel
The Washington Post

As the Iowa caucuses near, Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have released TV ads that together echo a popular theme in the mainstream media. Clinton's ad depicts the job of the presidency as tough and change as hard. You need someone experienced who can face down foreign adversaries and stand up to reactionary Republicans. Sanders's ad — with Simon and Garfunkel's "America" stirring memories — offers the romance of the United States coming together. Many of the pundits agree — this is a choice between head and heart. If Democrats think with their heads, they will go with Hillary; with their hearts, with Bernie.

But this conventional wisdom clashes with the reality that this country has suffered serial devastations from choices supported by the establishment's "responsible" candidates. On fundamental issue after issue, it is the candidate "of the heart" who is in fact grounded in common sense. It wasn't Sanders' emotional appeal, but his clearsightedness that led the Nation magazine, which I edit, to make only its third presidential endorsement in a primary in its 150-year history.

For example, foreign policy is considered Clinton's strength. When terrorism hits the headlines, she gains in the polls. Yet the worst calamity in U.S. foreign policy since Vietnam surely was George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. Clinton voted for that war; Sanders got it right and voted against. Clinton has since admitted her vote was a "mistake" but seems to have learned little from that grievous misjudgment. As secretary of state, she championed regime change in Libya that left behind another failed state rapidly becoming a backup base for the Islamic State. She pushed for toppling Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war and lobbied for arming the Syrian opposition, a program that ended up supplying more weapons to the Islamic State than to anyone else. Now she touts a "no fly zone" in Syria, an idea that has been dismissed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as requiring some 70,000 troops to enforce, and by President Barack Obama as well. People thinking with their heads rather than their hearts might well prefer Sanders' skepticism about regime change to Clinton's hawkishness.

The worst economic calamity since the Great Depression came when the excesses of Wall Street created the housing bubble and financial crisis that blew up the economy. Clinton touts her husband's economic record, but he championed the deregulation that helped unleash the Wall Street wilding. The banks, bailed out by taxpayers, are bigger and more concentrated than they were before the crash. Someone using their head — not their heart — would want to make certain that the next president is independent of Wall Street and committed to breaking up the big banks and shutting down the casino. But Clinton opposes key elements of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's, D-Mass., rational reform agenda for the banks, and her money ties to Wall Street lead any rational observer to conclude she's an uncertain trumpet for reform.

(snip)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-bernie-sanders-electability-over-hillary-clinton-20160127-story.html

Katrina is brilliant.

[gyroscope]

1. Clinton is a super hawk

the scariest thing is her foreign policy. She would send ground troops to the middle east and start another war. For that alone she should not be president imo.

And she would do nothing to reign in Wall Street, or make college and healthcare affordable.

[ErisDiscordia]

2. Oh, they are "responsible" candidates, all right.

That's why I don't recommend voting for them.

[IdaBriggs]

3. I believe your comment is a violation of the DU terms of service.

We support Democrats here. You may wish to edit your post to share the candidate you are supporting in order to eliminate any potential confusion.

Welcome to DU (if you aren't a troll).

[Armstead]

4. She is always spot on

[tk2kewl]

5. can't get any more real than being a strait up truth-teller

Last edited Fri Jan 29, 2016, 11:10 AM - Edit history (1)

[Skwmom]

6. My head and logic tells me EXACTLY what Clinton would deliver. Bernie supporters are optimistic

realists. We get what is going on but instead of just throwing in the towel we have hope for the future.

Will it be easy? Of course not. But to throw in the towel and accept defeat - that is un-American.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Bernie promises much but by any logical definition of negotiation or compromise is best started from

a position of strength, not half loafs.

To me, Bernie's policies are based on using the head and heart.