Michael Tomasky: "Sanders is a punish-the-malefactors type, and Clinton is a fix-the-problem type."

[Fla Dem]

Michael Tomasky
The Daily Beast
03.07.16 2:50 PM ET

Pragmatic Hillary Tops Thundering Bernie
Bernie Sanders’s moral thunder sounds impressive on the stump or in a debate, but while Hillary may be outmatched oratorically, her solutions do look more like, well, solutions.

It was never clearer than at Sunday night’s debate, especially during the opening discussion about the Flint water crisis, what the real difference is between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

There are two kinds of political people in this world. First, there are those who see injustice and who hunger chiefly to see the malefactors punished. And second, there are those who hunger mainly to see the injustice corrected. Now obviously, those in the former group want to see the wrongs righted, and those in the latter group wish to see the perpetrators brought to heel. But when you strip away all the layers of the onion and get to the core emotional motivation, most people are first concerned with one or the other.

Sanders is a punish-the-malefactors type, and Clinton is a fix-the-problem type. This smacked me in the forehead when they were discussing the fate of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Sanders thundered, as he always does, that Snyder should leave office: “One of the points that I have made is that I believe the governor of this state should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible. He should resign.” Huge applause. Then in his next breath, he expanded the argument out to income inequality, the “proliferation of millionaires and billionaires,” and so on.

Then came Clinton’s turn. She had not joined in the call for Snyder’s scalp, but now she did. But look how quickly she pivoted away: “I agree, the governor should resign, or be recalled … [And I] support the efforts of citizens attempting to achieve that. But that is not enough. We have to focus on what must be done to help the people of Flint.”

So there you have it. The difference was so stark. And it explains a lot.
Sanders doesn’t care much about solutions. His prescriptions for Flint, based on his public pronouncements on the matter, more or less amount to: The governor must resign, and then, well, something will happen. I’m not sure what, exactly, given that Snyder would be replaced by another pretty conservative Republican, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. When Sanders visited Flint in late February, a Politico reporter quoted lots of Sanders moral thunder but then observed, “At one point, when an audience member asked him what he would do as president to help, he demurred and asked what the locals wanted from him.”

>>>Snip<<<

The perfect candidate would be a cross between the two. But human beings aren’t usually good at two opposing things. I can see why people are drawn to the moral-thunder candidate, but they in turn ought to be able to see why some other people—people who are shaping up to be the majority, as it happens—are drawn to the let’s-figure-this-out candidate. It’s less about ideology and more about temperament than most people would prefer to admit. And one thing’s for sure: Outrage certainly isn’t morally superior to rolling up one’s sleeves. If anything, the opposite is true.

More>>>

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/07/pragmatic-hillary-tops-thundering-bernie.html

[Nonhlanhla]

1. This also explains their different votes on TARP

Bernie's thought was that Wall St does not deserve to be bailed out; Hillary's that the crisis (economy in free fall) should be addressed.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Those who oppose TARP fortunately did not get to see their failure to support TARP

become reality. Yes it was wrong for the financial sector to have failed, assisted by the passage of CFMA but to have voted down TARP was the major failure. It would have crushed the middle class, and we would have suffered for years. I deal in reality, not the shoot the messenger, I am glad cooler heads passed TARP and the auto bailout.

Getting free college would not even be an option to day and ACA would have never happened in the Obama administration.

[Rose Siding]

3. That is such a good article - thanks!

And one thing’s for sure: Outrage certainly isn’t morally superior to rolling up one’s sleeves.

[pandr32]

6. I love that HC wants to roll up her sleeves and work WITH us all!

[Cha]

4. Good analysis from Michael Tomasky.. but I don't think sanders is any great

orator unless you hearing the same stump speech a million times.

Pragmatic Hillary Tops Thundering Bernie
Bernie Sanders’s moral thunder sounds impressive on the stump or in a debate, but while Hillary may be outmatched oratorically, her solutions do look more like, well, solutions.

Thank you, Fla Dem!

[Her Sister]

5. Yes I think it describes HRC well!

Yes her temperament is one thing (of so many) I absolutely admire and want in my President.

on Bernie:
"I read the thing when he released it. I thought it was reasonably detailed on the how-he’d-pay-for-it part. But on the question of how health care would be delivered—which is to say, on the whole point of the thing!—it was a joke. And I thought: Now here’s this guy. He’s been in Congress for a quarter-century. Every day during all those years, he’s supported Medicare-for-all. In all that time, couldn’t he have given some thought to some of the specific and complicated questions of health-care delivery? And maybe he did. But there’s no evidence in this plan that he did. That was a tell."

This is what has confounded me too.

[fleabiscuit]

7. K&R

[Fla Dem]

9. And vote in local elections and mid-terms! A president cannot accomplish much if they don't

have congress behind them. As you mentioned in your excellent post; where were all the new, young, anti-establishment Obama supporters in the 2010 and 2014 mid-terms? I've asked this question before and the response I've gotten was they didn't come out because they were disappointed with Obama after just 2 years. That's the staying power of the millennials. If they don't get instant gratification then the hell with it.

[UtahLib]

10. The difference is a plus for Hillary

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Well said

[BainsBane]

12. I've noticed this myself