It's clear that most black voters aren't buying what Bernie is selling

[Cali_Democrat]

This is probably the biggest reason why he won't get the nomination. So how did it come to this?

Two main reasons IMO.

1) His call to primary President Obama came back to bite him. While Bernie was trying to get cute with white progressives, he threw Obama under the bus. This was a huge mistake. At the time I don't think he thought it was a big deal, but boy did it come back to haunt him in a big way. Hillary and O'Malley pounded him for it.

2) His NPR interview in 2014 where he said America has overcome racism and we need to focus on appealing to working class whites. That interview was very revealing because it showed that he had a singular focus on income inequality. That singular focus carried over from late 2014 and into the presidential primaries. Any time Bernie was asked about racism, he would almost always pivot back to income inequality.

Bernie was doomed before the primaries even began and he only has himself to blame.

[Ron Green]

1. Your problem is that you think he's selling something.

Lots of other people don't get it, either.

[rhett o rick]

24. It's projection. They can't believe that he is honest. Really throws them for a loop. nm

[Baobab]

81. I bet OP is selling somethng..

that I am not buying

[rhett o rick]

85. I am selling freedom and liberty. But we will have to revolt against the Clintons and DWS

to get it. Support them and Goldman-Sachs at your peril.

[Baobab]

86. sorry

I meant OP.

[rhett o rick]

88. It's me, I am tired and misread your post. The OP is absurd. She has done irreparable harm

to the AA community and some still think she is golden.

[rock]

102. You're problem is you think he isn't

[Vattel]

2. More lies

[nc4bo]

3. I'm happy to be outside of the matrix. I feel refreshingly......free. nt

[Cali_Democrat]

7. It's not the fault of the media or Clinton or the DNC

These were self-inflicted wounds.

[Chitown Kev]

22. Everyone is to blame but Bernie...

I get it.

[kennetha]

5. Good point

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2014/11/19/365024592/sen-bernie-sanders-on-how-democrats-lost-white-voters

[Lizzie Poppet]

6. It's clear that most young voters aren't buying what Hillary is selling.

Just sayin'...

[Baobab]

87. Wrong policies

A vote for TPP and expensive drugs

[Octafish]

8. What you mean is that most black voters haven't heard his message.

Something else: most people here in Detroit who are African American are very surprised when they learn about all the nice things the US Government has done for UBS and how much UBS has done for former US Government officials now in its employ.

[bravenak]

52. We heard him. Not interested. Well, 20 percent are, but the rest of us are not.

[Octafish]

90. Michelle Alexander wants to reach them, haven't you heard?

The Clinton Legacy Is Black Impoverishment—so Why Are We Still Voting for Hillary?

From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies that Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.

BY: MICHELLE ALEXANDER
The Root, Posted: Feb. 10 2016

EXCERPT...

And it seems that we’re eager to get played. Again.

The love affair between black folks and the Clintons has been going on for a long time. It began back in 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for president. He threw on some shades and played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show. It seems silly in retrospect, but many of us fell for that. At a time when a popular slogan was “It’s a black thing; you wouldn’t understand,” Bill seemed to get us. When Toni Morrison dubbed him our first black president, we nodded our heads. We had our boy in the White House. Or at least we thought we did.

Black voters have been remarkably loyal to the Clintons for more than 25 years. It’s true that we eventually lined up behind Barack Obama in 2008, but it’s a measure of the Clinton allure that Hillary led Obama among black voters until he started winning caucuses and primaries. Now Hillary is running again. This time she’s facing a democratic socialist who promises a political revolution that will bring universal health care, a living wage, an end to rampant Wall Street greed and the dismantling of the vast prison state—many of the same goals that Martin Luther King Jr. championed at the end of his life. Even so, black folks are sticking with the Clinton brand.

What have the Clintons done to earn such devotion? Did they take extreme political risks to defend the rights of African Americans? Did they courageously stand up to right-wing demagoguery about black communities? Did they help usher in a new era of hope and prosperity for neighborhoods devastated by deindustrialization, globalization and the disappearance of work?

No. Quite the opposite.

CONTINUED...

http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2016/02/the_clinton_legacy_decimated_black_america_so_why_are_we_still_voting_for.html

[bravenak]

93. She is not the only black person in America who matters, nor, one who we rely on for voting advice.

Logical fallacy time, I guess.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority

[Octafish]

111. Logical Fallacy?

As in using "We" to write for ALL?

[bravenak]

112. I posted a link to your fallacy

[mwrguy]

63. We sho am ignant

We just need some benevolent white folks to explain what's good for us.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[Octafish]

89. Ignorance and condescension hold nothing to be proud of.

Spike Lee's right: black people should wake up to 'Brother Bernie'

The director endorsed the Vermont senator on Tuesday. He’s the latest in a series of black intellectuals to recognise Sanders’ superiority over Clinton

by Steven W Thrasher
The Guardian, Feb. 24, 2016

pike Lee is the latest black public intellectual to endorse Bernie Sanders and to question the sanity of black voters and politicians pledging their allegiance to the Clintons, who have done as much harm to black America as any living political couple. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am mystified by robust black support for Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing helped me wake up about race in America when I first watched it as a teenager. That’s why I was delighted to read that Spike Lee encouraged South Carolina democrats to “wake up” in a radio ad on Tuesday and to vote for “Brother Bernie”.

Bill Clinton governed through playing to white fears by hurting, locking up or even executing black Americans. He left the campaign trail in 1992 to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a black man so mentally incapacitated, he reportedly did not eat the dessert from his final meal because he was “saving it for later”. When in office, Bill Clinton ended welfare for poor children and destroyed countless black families through a crime bill even he now admits made mass incarceration worse, while Hillary Clinton would go out and whip up support for this accelerated disenfranchisement and marginalization of black America, even when it meant referring to children as “superpredators”.

The case against Clintonian neoliberalism is compelling. I am glad to see black thinkers making a case for Sanders’ democratic socialism and its potential to address structural racism as an alternative. If anyone is smart enough to effectively make Sanders’ case to black America, it would be the intellectual leaders who have endorsed him thus far.

Take Spike Lee. He is one of the contemporary black geniuses who have helped the nation (and me personally) reconsider race in transformative ways – and the latest to be feeling the Bern. Or Cornel West, who has been stumping for “Brother Bernie” for months. Just as I understood race differently after watching Crooklyn and Jungle Fever, I grew to understand black liberation theology and the radical potential of Christianity by reading West’s books – his influence been immeasurable. And, like much of America, I learned how to better think about the case for reparations after Ta-Nehisi Coates made it in the Atlantic. That’s why it matters so much that he said he would vote for Sanders.

Similarly, much of the country first got woke about the scale and racism of mass incarceration when they read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Alexander has not endorsed Sanders or any candidate – “I endorse the revolution” she wrote – but she has offered the most skewering critique on why “Hillary Clinton doesn’t deserve the black vote” in the Nation. She has also reminded black voters that “we are not checkmated” – that we can approach politics with a sense of possibility.

CONTINUED...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/24/black-thinkers-bernie-sanders-studied-clintons-true-cost

[MaggieD]

9. Add one more....

His ridiculous stubborn and wrong belief that income equality is the solution to racism. Any minority of ANY type knows that simply not true.

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. And anyone with half a brain knows income inequality is the only one of the two that can be changed.

Income can be balanced by codification. What cannot be done is to wipe racial hatred and discrimination from hearts and actions.

Any idiot can see that.

[Smarmie Doofus]

19. But obviously not EVERY idiot. nt.

[bravenak]

74. Oh bull. We could fix racism if we gave a fuck about dark people enough.

So I refuse to buy that nonsense that black folks just gotta pay a black tax and just deal with that racism forever. It's a cop out. Revolution unless it involved making racism better. Then we just act all shocked that black folks think we should do something about racism. Like we are just selfish for being good and fucking tired of it.

[MaggieD]

83. Exactly

[amborin]

114. if all the racism were eliminated, we'd still be left w/ income deterioration, outsourced jobs,

solidification of wealth and power by the 1%, staggering college debt, continued privatization, etc.....

it's necessary to fix both problems; not just one

[dsc]

97. we sure as hell can wipe out discrimination from actions

it is called passing and enforcing laws. As to hearts I don't give a rats ass about that except to the extent that in a democracy you need majority support for the laws.

[dogman]

20. And the death penalty isn't part of institutional racism?

How is she against one and not the other? Strange Bernie goes there without mention of income inequality.

[kennetha]

28. He says at one point

"Now you're getting into that demographic stuff -- which is not my thing."

[DisgustipatedinCA]

11. I appreciate his honesty. That's how he earned my vote.

[kennetha]

29. Honestly blinded by his ideology

[BainsBane]

12. Events this summer may have also hurt him.

Buy yeah, you're right about income inequality.

[NurseJackie]

13. Didn't. Aren't. Won't.

Period. Full stop. End of sentence.

[Luminous Animal]

14. It is clear that young black, hispanic, latino, and native american are. And they are our future.

The key is keeping the youth fired up.

[azurnoir]

15. NPR framed the question as whites Bernie didn't answer in that manner though

oh and the overcoming racism quote it was in relationship to Barack Obama's election or are you opining that would have been possible without white voters ?

On why he says Democrats are losing white voters

Well, I am focusing on the fact that whether you're white or black or Hispanic or Asian, if you are in the working class, you are struggling to keep your heads above water. You're worried about your kids. What should the Democratic Party be talking about, Steve? What they should be talking about is a massive federal jobs program. There was once a time when our nation's infrastructure — roads, bridges, water systems, rail — were the envy of the world. Today that's no longer the case.

I would say if you go out on the street and you talk to people and say, "Which is the party of the American working class?" People would look to you like you were a little bit crazy, they wouldn't know what you were talking about, and they certainly wouldn't identify the Democrats.


On African-American support for Democrats

Well, here's what you got. What you got is an African-American president, and the African-American community is very, very proud that this country has overcome racism and voted for him for president. And that's kind of natural. You've got a situation where the Republican Party has been strongly anti-immigration, and you've got a Hispanic community which is looking to the Democrats for help.

But that's not important. You should not be basing your politics based on your color. What you should be basing your politics on is, how is your family doing? ... In the last election, in state after state, you had an abysmally low vote for the Democrats among white, working-class people. And I think the reason for that is that the Democrats have not made it clear that they are prepared to stand with the working-class people of this country, take on the big money interests. I think the key issue that we have to focus on, and I know people are uncomfortable about talking about it, is the role of the billionaire class in American society.

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2014/11/19/365024592/sen-bernie-sanders-on-how-democrats-lost-white-voters

[kennetha]

33. You left out the part where he said

"Now you're getting into that demographic stuff, which is not my thing."

[azurnoir]

43. I addressed the 2 'points' made in the OP with complete quotes

he said nothing about demographics in reply to either question

[kennetha]

46. he sure did.

Listen to the interview. 4:25 mark

[azurnoir]

47. if that quote exists it is not in reply to either point made in the OP

[kennetha]

49. That isn't a full transcript.

Are you afraid to listen? 4:25 mark

[azurnoir]

50. No as I said if it exists it is in reply to another question

your being so exact as to where it is gives that away almost as though you do not wish anyone to hear too much

[kennetha]

51. Stop making stuff up

Listen!

[azurnoir]

53. your need for folks to only start at 4:25 is a giveaway

or is that for our convenience

[kennetha]

54. Jeepers

You are so closed minded. Just listen

[azurnoir]

60. you mean the part where he said he didn't want to discuss splitting the Democratic party on a racial

basis hence discussing this by demographics are not my cup of tea - is that the part you mean?

[kennetha]

61. Right.

Spin away. Keep those blinders on, just like Bernie

[azurnoir]

62. so you're in favor of splitting the Democratic party on a racial basis?

[kennetha]

68. That's a stupid remark

That's not the issue. The question is whether the only or main issue facing the country is class conflict, as Bernie seems to believe -- sincerely and deeply.
He's wrong about that and it explains the limits of his appeal.

See this
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511238114

[azurnoir]

70. No it's a question that you seem to not wish to answer so you attack insult and link to your own OP

seems familiar somehow........... let me guess next I'm deflecting

[kennetha]

73. I am trying to get you to seriously engage

With ideas and perspectives that you might find discomforting but might just expand your horizons a little bit

[azurnoir]

76. I don't find it discomforting at all ? Are you discomforted answering the question I asked of you?

g

[kennetha]

78. Your questions are juvenile and silly and entirely pointless.

You are so determined to construe Bernie in a certain way that you just screen out all countervailing considerations. You're kind of like the lemmings who watch only Fox News

[azurnoir]

80. wow yet more ad hominem in avoidance of an answer

[bravenak]

16. Yep

[aikoaiko]

17. Most Democrats, Black or White, had no idea who Bernie was in 2011/12 let along what he said .

The Clintons had a lock on core votes because of 25 years on the national scene where they provided key Federal jobs to highly qualified persons of color, lots of philanthropic money through their foundation, and generally developed relationships with Black leadership.

[cosmicone]

21. or Hispanic and Asian

we can see through the scam

[JonLeibowitz]

58. IL Hispanic Dems split 49-49. Perhaps races do not vote as monoliths?

[cosmicone]

67. Exit polls ... Meh n/t

[JonLeibowitz]

71. Excellent "Point".

[PATRICK]

100. Well let's try again

It is my understanding that Latinos are very ready to listen to sane GOP policy on their behalf. Browbeating has made them more monolithic by defaulty but nowhere are they as forced into oneness as the descendants of slaves perpetually under real harm from the white nation. Do the Clintons have as much history with the latino community? Getting the organizations and vigorous backing of respected community leaders and GOTV activists within institutions might be accomplished with what some might consider corrupt payoffs for favors, but it is part of a responsive political system. We are talking about primaries and percentages and even moreso than in the national the party and its base leadership is important even if not decisive or overwhelming. There no monoliths, but why brand a successful Dem political voting bloc like the GOP would? The fact is how Sanders cuts into what should be there for a dominant party machine or how numbers are dwindling and depressed in general. Those are the real issues showing dissatisfaction, decline or plain lack of enthusiasm. Why does our party suffer that so much that local elections in off presidential years suffer and incredible setbacks happen even then?

Even the community organization must wither if the pols don't deliver. They they won't, can't and get blamed for that too.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

23. Climate change and the sixth global mass-extinction event is happening now

some people under this and some do not and some it seems don't give a damn

[PATRICK]

25. One issue i would like even a little information on...

before a truthful postmortem slinks into the aftermath... is whether AA political organization is mainly what is delivering their people to the polls, a good old Democratic machine in the best tradition, long in the bag and Obama bargain of 2008 for 2016. There are no such primary powerhouses available to Sanders, who next meme is that he is only getting them independents which argument was used successfully against Ron Paul and McCain- an "insurgence" campaign not sanctioned by the kingmakers. I make no criticism how the cash is spread on the streets and among these streets, just that, really is this an informed electorate deciding on the real positions and issues or just a depressed primary churning out establishment
politics and insurgency because the drama AND the discussion has been given to GOP histrionics and media dismissal of anything else.

I really doubt the actual commitment to Hillary in the fall will translate into anything really close to the Obama upswell which also included other enthusiastic groups- also with the repulsive GOP fear factor in full play. Looking at the numbers in Ohio only the strength of a mighty anti-Trump vote gives us a chance there in the fall.

I believe, or hope, that Trump will be personally incapable of cobbling back his party in disarray, but that otherwise they would follow lockstep behind him addicted to the power they all crave, all the current whining and hypocrisy of these suddenly "moderate" GOpers notwithstanding.

[msanthrope]

38. "Their people"

Our people, us, you mean.

[JonLeibowitz]

79. The poster is referring to "their" as in the constituents of the political organizations under

discussion.

[grasswire]

26. inaccurate

Bernie campaigned FOR Obama. Remember?

And I don't see how black voters would favor someone who reamed out AA families through the crime bill and welfare reform and angrily charged that black youths should be "brought to heel."

[Cali_Democrat]

30. A few things

1) Bernie said it would a good idea for Obama to face a primary challenger in 2012. It's on tape.
2) Bernie voted for the crime bill.
3) Hillary wasn't an elected official when the 1994 crime bill was passed, Bernie was and he voted for it.

[grasswire]

34. Hillary advocated for the crime bill.

She now says it was a mistake. And the welfare reform bill was another mistake.

Bernie's comment on a question about the primarying of Obama was not "calling for it."

Inaccurate.

[PATRICK]

98. And the Clintons have/had strong

support for many years whatever the present arguments are now and Sanders didn't set up any of that kind of support and wisely didn't try directly. Then pre-emptively he got hit the other way. I don't think people are seeing that Clinton history cuts both ways, dues before debates or second thoughts. You have to work for and deliver to not just the broad base but particular groups and the Clintons seem to have cultivated that work on the base however one might want to argue otherwise. Labor too has not had such great actual delivery but they too are in line with the Clintons at least in a basic way. That does not mean at all that the entire membership is in the bag or that some unions are not desperate for better. They rarely are that united for anyone, but the African Americans have not disappeared like unions. In sheer numbers and ongoing organization they have great clout in the primaries.

Not many here are real streetwise political pros, but it helps to understand how elections really work as opposed to facebook and opinion polling. Obama lost Florida and some black support because of the strong Clinton backing, at least at first. Organizational leaders would have been more comfortable with one of their own like Jesse Jackson, at first.

I remember my fellow workers asking if Obama really had a chance. Those days. Of course he did, a chance. Campaign believers think it is always in the bag when it rarely is that simple. And then blame someone for voting crazy. After decades of corporate boob tube and radio and newspaper propaganda it is amazing we are not so much worse off. Let's just tune out the nonsense and get to work. People working hard to foster democratic values is vital.

[Autumn]

27. They shouldn't buy it. He's not selling anything.

[nc4bo]

31. But someone else sure is.

I just can't figure out WHAT it is. The sign keeps saying: Subject to change without notice.

[NWCorona]

32. More race baiting

[rhett o rick]

35. You are aware that Clinton championed strong drug laws that filled our prisons disproportionately

with AA and other minorities. You do know that she favors the Prisons For Profits that profit from the incarceration of predominately AA and other minorities. She supports the death penalty which again is disproportionately enforced. She was instrumental in destroying the welfare system and other safety nets that hurt minorities the hardest. She isn't interested in helping our children get a college education, which again hits minorities the hardest. She has not mentioned one thing about helping the 50,000,000 living in poverty. She represents the wealthy class that has for centuries had no interest in correcting the inequality that exists.

[Recursion]

36. I wonder if the larger issue is running on income stagnation

Nonwhite incomes have gone way up over the past 40 years; white male incomes have gone down (white female incomes are also up, somewhat). Running on solutions to specifically white male problems will, unsurprisingly, sell best with white male people.

[ram2008]

37. Three reasons:

1) He didn't "hug" President Obama to death as Hillary Clinton did. African Americans want an Obama third term.

2) The Clinton's have historic ties to the AA community going back decades, even though her record is shaky, Bill did put AA's in positions of power, moreso than others.

3) African Americans are actually more conservative than the rest of the Democratic electorate, Bernie doesn't does better with more liberal voters.

[forjusticethunders]

106. 3) is blatantly untrue

Maybe more conservative on social issues but are often more progressive on economics.

[whatchamacallit]

39. So you're saying black voters let their annoyance with two Sanders statements

overwhelm all other considerations? I don't buy it. It sounds like an insult to AAs. Nothing Bernie has ever said has approached the thinly-veiled bigotry of Hillary's statements, so...

[Joe the Revelator]

40. Still, even this late in the game, trying to pain Sanders as some kind of racist.

It boggles the mind.

[w4rma]

41. You put that avatar that you use to shame, Cali. Huey deserves better than you. (nt)

[Scootaloo]

42. 3: her big plan to end racism

[kennetha]

57. At least she realizes that racism is a real thing.

[Scootaloo]

59. And I look forward to her ending it.

After all. it's why she won't address two-big-to-fail banks. "But would that end racism?"

I wait, with bated breath, to see her solution to a 500 year-old problem in this land.

[nc4bo]

69. +1. nt

[Quayblue]

44. if we've overcome racism..let me add a plus 1 and then say

I shall chuckle to myself because that's necessary...

We wouldn't have folks agreeing with and explaining the dookey storm that is Trump, we wouldn't have this mother fucker so far ahead amongst Republicans... and then black folks wouldn't be questioned on how the fuck we vote.

Heh.

[kath]

45. Thanks so much for yet another race-baiting divisive thread.

I'm sure it will really help me want to vote for your candidate if, dawg forbid, she should win the Dem nomination.

[Carlo Marx]

48. Hard to buy something you've had little to no exposure to.

Polling data from the fall showed a plurality of black voters in South Carolina believed that a Sanders administration would "favor the rich". Bernie who? The Clintons are the most famous politicians on earth, with almost every elected Democrat wiling to say 12 different lies and distortions in the first sentence coming out of their mouths. Hell, Sanders couldn't even reference old photos of himself engaged in the Civil Rights movement without Clinton "journalist" surrogates screaming for Sanders to "stop using this photo!" Cause you Bernie are a liar, and you were never around to help black people, and some other slimy things.

[elleng]

55. Sounds silly to me.

In fact how many think he 'called' to primary President Obama? Few, I think.

And NPR interview? Really?

I'll await the outcome, but in fact hrc + big dog have catered to/pandered to black voters for years. It's just history.

[Cleita]

56. That's because he's not selling anything.

He's speaking from his core beliefs. I've been listening to and following him for almost fifteen years and he never has wandered from them. He tells the truth. However, go live in your little self-satisfied righteousness. You will find out soon enough if you bought fools gold.

[rusty quoin]

64. Well, now that it's almost over,

and we need to get behind one candidate, and forget the dirty politics, and forgive because there is always a choice between them or us, even though for 30 years it has been us giving more to them, finally it has changed direction, and to pull out now would be foolish, because you cannot really predict anything.

You just keep fighting.

[Impedimentus]

65. Will you ever stop blacksplaining to us?

It got tiresome a long time ago and it only makes you look foolish.

[bravenak]

75. I think you mighg be seeing stuff exactly wrong

[Impedimentus]

77. I'm perfectly willing to engage in self-reflection

I don't it all the time because I know how easy it is too cloud one's mind with emotion.

Are you willing to self-reflect on your opinions?

[bravenak]

94. I do it daily

[ecstatic]

66. He's promising the world with no clue of how to deliver

That's the number one thing I can't get past. It's kind of offensive in a way, because if successful, his voters would be so bitter and disappointed. When you look at his track record, there's nothing to indicate that he can get anything done, much less the shit he's promising.

He's extremely ignorant when it comes to other cultures. The second point you mentioned in the OP is just one of many examples of that.

His communication style, delivery, and appearance don't help much either. The arrogance, yelling, distracting hand movements, talking in third person all the time... None of that helps.

And yes, his anti-Obama rhetoric that he now tries to run away from are not helpful either.

ETA: Also, he's a one issue candidate. We need a well rounded candidate. He lacks intellectual curiousity when it comes to non-economy related topics, but even when discussing economic topics, his understanding seems a bit idealistic/simplistic.

[Ron Green]

99. He's not promising anything; he's describing what we should

be doing. It's an important distinction, but too many people don't understand it.

[Agnosticsherbet]

72. I think it is the relationships she developed with black voters over decades.

Out of Yale she went to work for Marion Wright Edelman, who founded the Children’s Defense Fund. She could have chosen a more lucrative beginning. Long before she could have planned her 2016 or 2008 run for the Presidency, she developed relationships with the Black community.

I think that it is her own relationships, and those developed with them by and with her husband, that gained the enduring loyalty of the Black community.

That relationship can not be developed in the span of a single election cycle. If there had been a different candidate who did not enjoy that relationship, things might have been different.

In overwhelming numbers, they know and trust Hillary Clinton.

Now this should be a teachable moment to future candidates. They need to develop relationships with all the varied groups within the Democratic Party. Once, like Republicans, we were a fairly Monolithic white majority party. Some individual states may remain that way, but the national Democratic Party is not.

[Frances]

82. Thanks for your post

I totally get why Black Americans supported Hillary in large numbers.

I also totally get why so many young people support Bernie.

Black Americans have been treated unfairly for generations. Young Americans have been treated unfairly long enough for them to fight for a better deal.

I just hope that we can all unite behind one candidate and defeat Trump or Cruz or whoever is the Repub nominee because life under Republicans will be much worse than life under either Hillary or Bernie.

[Agnosticsherbet]

84. My signature line 'Voting Blue No Matter Who' is my General Election philosophy

I think we can win if we all work together.

[Frances]

115. Agree

I think that if Hillary is the nominee, Bernie has had a huge effect on the way she will govern if elected.

[Surya Gayatri]

92. K & R enthusiastically.

[AgingAmerican]

95. Then they will have to live with the consequences

[SunSeeker]

96. K & R

[Sky Masterson]

101. Black voters love the Clintons.

They just do.
If a Clinton ran against an Obama I would bet anything that a Clinton could peal more votes away from President Obama than any other candidate could possibly ever do.
Not to sound like a White guy but "I have Black Friends" (Can't believe I just typed that) who don't care for her and thinks she panders. They voted Bernie.
If Bernie was running against almost any other candidate he would win the Black vote.

[Vinca]

103. He's a horrible, horrible man. He wants to raise everyone's lot in life to a higher level.

I thought AA voters were smarter than what you're claiming. Does he really have to say, "I propose a black minimum wage of $15?" or "Free tuition for black students?" I'm afraid Bernie is a little color blind. He views everyone as equal.

[BumRushDaShow]

107. "everyone's lot in life"

And there is the problem - "universally" defining what one's "lot in life" is or is supposed to be rather than actually asking what that means for POC.

This "view" that "everyone is equal" is a falsehood and only further underscores a complete lack of understanding of reality. POC may "look" like they are "equal" but they are not. And the solutions for dealing with that can never be cookie-cutter as long as people are not starting from the same position.

[Vinca]

113. I don't know why I respond to these posts.

Some people seem to wallow in victimhood. The best example, of course, is Melissa Harris Perry who felt she was being racially discriminated against because her show was sidelined during the election. So, rather than collect her huge salary and use the time to write a book or just muse about how victimized she believed she was, she published her complaints for the world to see and most people agreed she was being foolish. So now she's SOL. No show, no giant salary and probably no one wants to hire her because they may be next to be falsely accused of racial discrimination. As for "lot in life," there is no way to compare one person's life to another's on an item-by-item basis, but it can be determined whether one has the opportunity to make their circumstances better. If, for example, Bernie says $15 minimum wage, that surely benefits a poor black person as much as a poor white person. What you do with improved circumstances is up to you. I don't know what you expect from Bernie. Should he travel around and personally promise individual people a giant check to buy a house or a car or what? What about "equal" is so bad?

[ecstatic]

117. Wow! Thanks for sharing your views

and frustrations. Quite illuminating.

[LexVegas]

104. Attacks by surrogates and supporters on civil rights icons didn't help. nt

[marions ghost]

105. This seems relevant here:

--was posted in Sanders group after Tuesdays election. I thought she makes some good points.

[Cha]

108. Thank you!

[ladjf]

109. I'm amazed that there are so many posters on DU that have better

judgment about political strategy than Senator Sanders. If he had tested his idea on DU for a few weeks before the primaries started, he could have saved a lot of energy and money.

(Yes, I'm being sarcastic but playfully so. The OP did say IMO and everyone certainly has a right to that.)

[Gothmog]

110. There are good reasons why Sanders is not appealing to African American and other voters

There are good reasons why the demographics are not working for Sanders and why many voters including some African American voters are not supporting Sanders. Demographics are important in that this explains one of the big divides between Sanders supporters and Clinton supporters. There is a vast difference in how Sanders supporters and Sanders view President Obama and how other Democrats view President Obama. I admit that I am impressed with the amount accomplished by President Obama in face of the stiff GOP opposition to every one of his proposals and I personally believe that President Obama has been a great President. It seems that this view colors who I am supporting in the primary http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clinton-sanders-obama_us_56aa378de4b05e4e3703753a?utm_hp_ref=politics

But lurking behind this argument about the future is a dispute that's really about the past. It’s a debate over what Obama accomplished in office -- in particular, how significant those accomplishments really are. And it's been simmering on the left for most of the last seven years.

On one side of this divide are activists and intellectuals who are ambivalent, disappointed or flat-out frustrated with what Obama has gotten done. They acknowledge what they consider modest achievements -- like helping some of the uninsured and preventing the Great Recession from becoming another Great Depression. But they are convinced that the president could have accomplished much more if only he’d fought harder for his agenda and been less quick to compromise.

They dwell on the opportunities missed, like the lack of a public option in health care reform or the failure to break up the big banks. They want those things now -- and more. In Sanders, they are hearing a candidate who thinks the same way.

On the other side are partisans and thinkers who consider Obama's achievements substantial, even historic. They acknowledge that his victories were partial and his legislation flawed. This group recognizes that there are still millions of people struggling to find good jobs or pay their medical bills, and that the planet is still on a path to catastrophically high temperatures. But they see in the last seven years major advances in the liberal crusade to bolster economic security for the poor and middle class. They think the progress on climate change is real, and likely to beget more in the future.

It seems that many of the Sanders supporters hold a different view of President Obama which is also a leading reason why Sanders is not exciting African American voters. Again, it may be difficult for Sanders to appeal to African American voters when one of the premises of his campaign is that Sanders does not think that President Obama is a progressive or a good POTUS.

Again, I am not ashamed to admit that I like President Obama and think that he has accomplished a great deal which is why I do not mind Hillary Clinton promising to continue President Obama's legacy. There are valid reasons why many non-African American democrats (myself included) and many African American Democratic voters are not supporting Sanders.

I understand why Sanders supporters dislike talking about demographics but the fact remain that Sanders supporters tend to not like President Obama and that dislike affects the amount of support that Sanders is getting from certain demographic groups.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

116. Sanders is indistinguishable from Trump, right?

You're about to see how an actual racist operates. And fun fact--with Sanders' nomination looking unlikely, the racist in question is very likely to be your next President. I wish we had opted to do something more likely to defeat this piece of shit.

[Cha]

118. I like this.. I'm going to Kick it. You don't even know how much I appreciate the well informed

Black voters, Cali!