A balanced look at how Sanders would govern as President (NYT)

[Armstead]

Here's an article that looks back at his experience and accomplishments as Mayor of Burlington. Shows he's a lot more flexible and results oriented than he is portrayed as....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/us/politics/as-mayor-bernie-sanders-was-more-pragmatic-than-socialist.html

As Mayor, Bernie Sanders Was More Pragmatist Than Socialist

Now 74 and the junior senator from Vermont, Mr. Sanders sometimes cites his eight years as mayor as he seeks the Democratic nomination for president. His mayoralty was his only experience as a chief executive, and it showed him to be a leader guided more by practicality than ideology.

The mayor who was quick to condemn millionaires also imposed fiscal discipline here in this laid-back blue-collar university town of 38,000 residents. He used a budget surplus not to experiment with a socialist concept like redistributing wealth but to fix the city’s deteriorating streets. And he oversaw the revitalization of downtown, often working with big business.

Back then, the Democrats were considered the old guard, his adversaries; in many cases, Mr. Sanders aligned himself with Republicans to get things done.

“Even though he talks revolution, he’s an incrementalist,” said Richard Sugarman, a longtime friend and a professor of religion at the University of Vermont. “He knows that things will only be changed little by little, one by one. That’s why he’s been effective.”

Critics on the right said their socialist mayor gave the city a bad image, wasting time on foreign affairs, including trips to Nicaragua and the Soviet Union. At the same time, critics on the left said he compromised too much with business interests and did not go far enough in pursuing socialist ideals. Over the span of his mayoralty, the number of families living in poverty grew — to 798 in 1990 from 563 in 1980, an increase of 42 percent.

Still, he was re-elected three times, each with an increasing share of the vote. Under his watch, Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, cropped up on lists of the best places to live. U.S. News and World Report named him one of the nation’s 20 top mayors in 1987, crediting him with preserving affordable housing, holding the line on property taxes and making a serious push for home rule in a state where cities had little autonomy.

“He learned how to use the levers of local government to improve people’s lives,” said Peter Dreier, a professor of politics and public policy at Occidental College who studied Burlington during Mr. Sanders’s mayoralty.....

MORE

[cantbeserious]

1. When We Stand Together - No Citizen Need Settle For The Lesser Of Two Corporate Evils - Go Bernie Go

eom

[LWolf]

2. Thanks for posting this.

It needs to be stated repeatedly in the face of the ludicrous crap being thrown around about how he can't accomplish things.

[Armstead]

4. yeah...I get so tired of the "experience versus heart" meme

[libdem4life]

3. Well, now this is inconvenient info. Also on Nevada Caucus Day, not before.

Almost like a Friday afternoon news dump...at least politically.

I wonder how long they kept it, however, something good is better than what we're used to.

[Armstead]

5. Actually, it's from November last year

I Googled and dumped it here to add more knowledge and balance into the pot

[libdem4life]

6. .....

but clever.

[Armstead]

7. I do wish there were more new articles like this...I also think Bernie should be pumping it more

[Jenny_92808]

8. The good does the good

that they can do. What is your point?

[Armstead]

9. MY point is that Sanders is portrayed as a rigid ideoogue who can't govern

The Fact is that he is an ultra liberal but he knows exactly how to govern, and build diverse coalitions and knows when to compromise to get things done -- for the right reasons.

He is what Clinton claims to be -- "a progressive who can get things done."

[Jenny_92808]

11. Well said

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Faux pas]

10. Kickin'

[Octafish]

12. Kick and REc

Thank you, Armstead!