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Obama alums lash out at Sanders
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-progressives-barack-obama-218562There’s nothing that drives the president and his aides crazier than the idea that he’s not a true progressive, or that he’s sold out on his principles.
Backing Hillary Clinton in this year’s election means swallowing a lot of pride and lingering bitterness for the ultra-competitive Obama alumni. Lashing back at Bernie Sanders for knocking President Barack Obama as a disappointment to progressives makes it easier.
There’s nothing that drives Obama and his current and former aides crazier than the idea that he’s not a true progressive, or that he’s sold out on his principles. The people who make that argument, they think, are noisemakers who started out reading more into Obama than he ever promised himself, who are never be satisfied with anything, and who are now willfully ignoring Obama’s record for the sake of their own talking points.
Sanders embodies all that to them.
And they feel the campaign that he’s been running, including some of its closing elements, is rubbing their faces in it—particularly after the Vermont senator spent the last weeks trying to draw closer to Obama. So they’ve spent their last few hours before the Iowa caucuses tearing him apart.
“He seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth,” said Tommy Vietor, an Obama 2008 campaign alum and former National Security Council spokesman. “He knows that Obama’s at a 90 percent approval rating in Iowa. He’s seemingly tempered his language in trying to play up all the work Obama did, but also offering criticisms that aren’t really rooted in the realities of what happened.”
It’s hard to find someone connected with Obama who hasn’t spent the past 48 hours pointing out the president’s sky-high numbers from Saturday night’s Des Moines Register poll.
“DMR poll. Obama 90% favorable,” White House political director David Simas tweeted shortly after the poll was released Saturday night. Then immediately after: “55% very favorable for Obama in #DMR poll. Highest top box of anyone on either side.”
People in Obama’s orbit think it’s fair to point out that the president fell short in areas like closing Guantanamo Bay or not realizing their ideal of single payer healthcare – but only if he gets credit for what he did do.
“What’s frustrating is a very, very, very small minority of progressives hold this point of view, but for whatever reason, they seem to have this giant megaphone,” said Mitch Stewart, who ran Obama’s 2008 operation in Iowa and moved immediately to the president’s reelection campaign.
Sanders’ blurb for liberal talk show host Bill Press’s new book, "Buyer's Remorse: How Obama let Progressives Down”—longer and less cutting in full than the excerpt on the cover, which reads "Bill Press makes the case ... Read this book”—pushed them over the edge, even though they know the quote was set long before Obama hosted Sanders in the Oval Office last week.
“Sanders closing with Cornel West and embracing idea of Buyer's Remorse with @POTUS,” Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, who’s endorsed and advised Clinton, wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Be honest then Senator - run firmly against Obama record.”
That thought went viral among the Obama alums on Twitter.
“Why is Sanders campaigning in Iowa with Cornel West, one of Obama's biggest critics, when Obama has a 90% approval among IA Dems?” former Obama senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer wrote.
Jeremy Bird, the national field director for Obama’s reelection campaign, and a founding partner in 270 Strategies, which is working with Clinton, retweeted Plouffe and added, “Could not agree more. You cannot have it both ways, Senator.”
Stewart, whose 270 Strategies firm is now working with the Clinton campaign, still carries the old scars—Monday morning, for example, he tweeted his fond memory of keeping Clinton food trays out of caucus sites eight years ago. But like a lot of Obama alumni, he signed up early for Clinton (his firm was a consultant for Ready for Hillary), which he says is a combination of Clinton’s embracing the Obama team as secretary of state and “there’s something of an alignment of people who’ve been through the policy battles with Secretary Clinton, because she knows how hard change is.”
But at flashback moments for Obama alumni – when they can’t believe they’re supporting Clinton – having Sanders as the alternative helps.
“I think I would have been supportive of her no matter what,” Stewart said. “I think the fact that you have a candidate now who is articulating a very vocal but very much a minority view among progressives makes that conversion even easier.”
At the White House, where they’re engaged in a year-long process of legacy-minded trumpeting of their successes, the fight to protect Obama’s progressive credentials is underway every day of the week, Sanders or not.
But Sanders – who encouraged a primary challenge to the president in 2012 – definitely needles them.
“Evaluating the president’s record is not a theoretical exercise—we’ve got numbers we can consider,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday, who made a point of reminding people that Sanders had praised Obama’s record standing on the White House driveway just last Wednesday, after his meeting. “And whether it’s the longest job growth streak in history or the lowest growth in health care costs in American history, or the all-time high in renewable energy production in this country, the president’s track record on issues that are important to middle class people in this country or important to Democrats is unimpeachable.”
Asked if that made Sanders voters in Iowa under-informed, misinformed or just plain wrong, Earnest demurred.
“The people who feel that way are entitled to their own opinion,” Earnest said, “but should also consult and consider the important progress our country’s made under President Obama’s leadership.”
52 replies
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So what's to wonder? 
decision is what your biases is telling you and pure conjecture on your part. Of course in your infinite wisdom, you forget that the Clintons campaigned for him when Hillary suspended her campaign. Oops!
And I really don't care what Bernie's thinking. He's inconsequential to me. I'll just take his words at face value, and they've condemned him. He will never be president. Just deserts.
Finally, the only reason you believe the rest of my post is unworthy is because facts are apparently silly and annoying things to you.
Have a great one! 
But I know that your posts have gotten increasingly hostile and ugly.
Back at you.
Tad knew Bernie's liabilities when he created the liberty gambit.
Every questionable move has been to pander to whites. Create the Sander's map. Ditch the Obama coalition.
West is no accident. A mistake for sure. But not an accident.
Do you think they were unaware of west's rhetoric or standing with poc?
Do you think he was the only black person of stature willing to stump for him?
Rhetorical questions I know 
Response to MrWendel (Original post)
