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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhat Bernie Sanders Has Achieved
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/what-bernie-sanders-has-achievedJohn Cassidy
March 17, 2016
What Bernie Sanders Has Achieved
By John Cassidy
Its too early to say what Bernie Sanderss legacy will be, but he has already done more than just pull Hillary Clinton to the left.
As he has been for most of the past year, Bernie Sanders is on the road. On Thursday, he was scheduled to hold a town-hall meeting at the Twin Arrows Casino, east of Flagstaff, Arizona. You read that right: the seventy-four-year-old Vermont senator was set to issue his trademark call for a political revolution and to demand more income and wealth redistribution at a capitalist mecca in one of the most conservative states in the Union.
That, in itself, says something about Sanders and the historical significance of his campaign. He has cast aside many of the rules and adages of American politics, one of which is that its hard for liberals, never mind self-described socialists, to win support in the Sun Belt. And although Sanders now seems unlikely to win the Democratic nomination for President, he has achieved much more than that.
In reaching out to the young, the idealistic, and the disillusioned, he has earned far more votes than virtually anybody in the Democratic Party (or the punditry) expected. He has expanded the political space, bringing controversial issues like rising inequality and political corruption, which had previously been considered the province of leftists and policy wonks, into their rightful place at the center of the discussion. And by refusing to accept corporate money and basing his campaign on individual donations, he has reinvigorated American democracy.
It is obvious that Sanders has, in the process, put a scare into Hillary Clintons campaign. What is perhaps less widely acknowledged is how close he came to upending it. Of the twenty-five states that have held Democratic primaries and caucuses, Sanders has won nine and Clinton has won sixteen (plus American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands). But outside the South, where Clinton has won large majorities of black voters, many of Sanderss losses have been narrow.
snip//
But it is also evident that, in the past ten months, Sanders has defied the pundits, alarmed the comfortable, and inspired the young. He has turned what looked to be a political coronation into a lively and hard-fought contest, forcing his opponent to modify her positions and raise her game. He has demonstrated that Presidential campaigns dont have to be beholden to big donors. And he has shown that, surprisingly enough, there is still a place in American politics for an independent-minded speaker of uncomfortable truths. Whats more, he isnt done yet.
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What Bernie Sanders Has Achieved (Original Post)
babylonsister
Mar 2016
OP
kgnu_fan
(3,021 posts)1. Indeed.... well said.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)2. Recommended.
And he'll only gain strength from here on out.