Democrats are booing Bernie Sanders. But his movement is succeeding.

[Proud Public Servant]

Interesting analysis.

Democrats are booing Bernie Sanders. But his movement is succeeding.

Politico reports that Bernie Sanders was booed by House Democrats in a private meeting today on Capitol Hill. Apparently they were irked with Sanders for staying in the race, and reacted badly after he said this: “The goal isn’t to win elections. The goal is to transform America.” One Dem even accused Sanders of “squandering” his movement.

But if Sanders is squandering his movement, it is odd that he continues to rack up meaningful victories in the battle to transform the Democratic agenda, if not the country.

Today Hillary Clinton announced that she was moving dramatically in the direction of one of the most important pillars of Bernie’s agenda. She substantially expanded her proposal for improving access to a college education so it ensures that families below a certain income level will not pay tuition at in-state public colleges and universities.

This, taken with other recent Sanders victories, basically means that Sanders’s movement is succeeding. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will continue to succeed. We don’t know whether it will meaningfully impact Clinton’s presidency, should she win. We don’t know if it will transform itself into a vehicle that can successfully advance its causes in Congress or on the level of the states, or produce any major policy victories down the road. That remains to be seen. But right now, it actually is succeeding, in a way that bears some preliminary parallels to previous progressive movements throughout American history.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/07/06/democrats-are-booing-bernie-sanders-but-his-movement-is-succeeding/

I haven't been crazy about Bernie's not-ready-to-endorse posture, but if that strategy is allowing him to rack up victories over the party's innate timidity and corporatist tendencies, then more power to him.

[tonyt53]

1. The platform that will be presented at the Convention is like a corporate policy statement.

It is not set in concrete and cannot work 100%. The platform also takes the majority participation by Congress to get any parts enacted. I n other words, anything can be put in there, but most of it will be used against the Democratic Party and its candidates all over the country.

[AgingAmerican]

22. The platform isn't legislation

It is a statement of positions that a party adheres to.

[puffy socks]

2. Clinton should be applauded for

coming up with a tenable plan.

[Hortensis]

19. (Most of) Bernie's plan is succeeding because it is OUR plan,

not just the wishful aspirations of a special few who are so superior to everyone else. Unfortunate that even Bernie himself doesn't realize and celebrate that winning truth.

[LiberalLovinLug]

34. ha ha thanks for the toon

But how in the world do you draw the conclusion that Bernie is doing anything other than fighting for "OUR plan" by hanging in there? He's been fighting for much of this platform for years now and no one was listening. I'm sure he believes that these issues should be a part of OUR plan. And his point in his speech was that winning elections can't be the only goal. “The goal isn’t to win elections, the goal is to transform America,” He's just a messenger. Its up to us.

[CobaltBlue]

49. puffy socks—It was also necessary…

The 17–29 support for Bernie Sanders was seriously so strong that it forced Hillary Clinton to respond.

It would have been one thing had Bernie carried them nationally with no greater than 55 percent. But, he won them around 70 percent. (He carried them with at least 80 percent of their vote in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Vermont, and such Top 20 populous states as Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin—and those states, and not all states, were exit-polled.)

A lot of the primaries’ exit polls of the four voting-age groups—those 17–29 (in the general they are 18–29); 30–44; 45–64; and 65+—ended up, as each state played out, a numbers-crunching effort. (Him winning the two youngest; her winning the two oldest age groups.)

The primaries are over. But the point is that, in a general election, the 18–29 voters are the Democrats’ first voting-age group to get carried. When John Kerry lost in 2004, he received 48.27 percent in the U.S. Popular Vote (his margin loss was only –2.46) and carried 18–29 voters with 54 percent. (It was the only voting-age group won nationally by Kerry.) When Barack Obama flipped the presidency from R to D, in 2008, he won the U.S. Popular Vote with 52.92 percent but won 18–29 voters with 66 percent. When Obama was re-elected, in 2012, he received 51.02 percent in the U.S. Popular Vote while having carried 18–29 voters with 60 percent.

The point is—a Republican or Democratic presidential candidate, who ends up winning, cannot do so without a vital part of his/her party’s base. And if it turns out that that base is moving in a direction you—and/or your party—may not have anticipated, it is best to respond while you actually can.

Hillary Clinton, who is not a political fool, did just that. She had to have seen the exit polls from Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two scheduled primaries/caucuses, and—as the schedule unfolded—saw repeated patterns. That, right there, was actually enough to say that this is serious.


Moving on to the general election…the Republicans—via Donald Trump—are in serious trouble electorally. I have the feeling Election 2016 is going to get even worse for Trump—that he may lose nationally by about 15 percentage points. He is the one having trouble holding his party. And, as we can see from some reports about congressional Republicans wanting to distance themselves from Trump, if that continues…it will not only result in defeat; it will create an incredible loss.

[bravenak]

3. Hillary is a great nominee

[BobbyDrake]

6. Yeah, she found a way to make Bernie's unworkable college funding plan viable.

All it took was a little bit of reality mixed with a dash of pragmatism.

[Her Sister]

8. There's our gal!

Love that she always has the know how! + can explain it! (I guess that's part of know-how!?)

Am a Fan!

[AgingAmerican]

32. A Huuuuuge win for Sanders

His holdout is working miracles

[BobbyDrake]

36. Not quite. His plan was unworkable, so Clinton fixed it. Huge win for Clinton.

Nice try, though.

[AgingAmerican]

41. She adopted a key piece of HIS legislation

Your theory is pure cognitive dissonance.

[BobbyDrake]

45. She adopted a minor piece of his proposal and discarded the rest.

No more block grants of funds for GOP governors, for instance, which was absolutely a questionable idea (and that's being generous, since most Democrats would not be so kind as to use the word "questionable" to describe a Democratic plan to hand millions in funding over to Republican governors and just trust they'd use it appropriately).

She fixed his broken idea and made it workable.

[AgingAmerican]

46. There was nothing 'broken' about his plan

You are obviously biased and still fighting the primary.

[BobbyDrake]

47. I'm analyzing a specific policy proposal, which was broken because it relied on GOP "generosity."

Just because you're not correct doesn't mean I'm "refighting the primary."

Maybe stop trying to give Sanders credit for everything Clinton does? If anyone is unable to process the primary results in this conversation, it's definitely not me.

[MaggieD]

4. Hillary is awesome - I agree!

As for this statement from Bernie: " “The goal isn’t to win elections. The goal is to transform America.”

WTF does that even mean? How the hell do you "transform" America without getting elected? SMH. I can see why they booed him.

[Dawgs]

11. Not surprising that you don't get it. nt

[MaggieD]

12. I get it just fine

She won, he lost. She has ALWAYS said her objection to his plan was that it called for us to pay for the tuition of rich kids. And she is absolutely right about that. His idea that we should pay the tuition of rich kids and finance it off of the 401Ks of retirees is absurd.

And that line in the sand stands with this proposal from her - right?

[AgingAmerican]

26. Rich kids go to private colleges

And it wouldn't be funded with 401k's either, it would be funded by a wall street speculation tax.

[SkeleTim1968]

14. why not explain ? nt

[LuvLoogie]

15. Bernie is like fado. Nobody groks Bernie.

[AgingAmerican]

23. What year was MLK elected?

[mythology]

42. 1960

As important as Dr King was, the Civil Rights movement required the backing of Kennedy and the Johnson to not just get the laws around voting changed, but also the National Guard sent in to enforce the law. As we saw in the South post Reconstruction and again now that the Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, those who wish to deny civil rights will take the opportunity to do so if there's not protection available. King and Kennedy/Johnson needed each other. Without King Kennedy and Johnson wouldn't have pushed for better civil rights, but without them King wouldn't have been able to get laws enacted.

[AgingAmerican]

44. What office did MLK run for in 1960?

[pangaia]

27. Well, I certainly get it.

[lapucelle]

5. Many people worked very hard for that platform.

The credit grab is unseemly, and it's not fooling anyone.

I'm beginning to see why some legislators have such poor reputations for collegiality and such a difficult time getting anything done.

[Maru Kitteh]

33. Glory hounds always want the credit.

Without so much of the work.

[JaneyVee]

7. You cant "transform America" without winning elections...

Not with a Republican majority.

[AgingAmerican]

24. Actually you can

Ever heard of the counter-culture?

[The Wielding Truth]

28. Yep. It can be done. Difficult but possible.

[uponit7771]

9. I agree, Sanders is suceeding in making sure people who are new to the far left stay far away from .

... them and their unicorn thinking attitudes.

He's not changed much tangibly, that's been a part of his record so far and it continues

[CobaltBlue]

16. He’s been consistently progressive.

Too many other “Democrats” sold out.

[uponit7771]

20. He's not being progressive AT ALL at this time in his life, there's nothing progressive about ....

... proffering bullshit false dichotomies in regards to him pushing for his agenda, campaigning for Clinton and endorsing her.

All three can be done at the same time by anyone.

Either way, I don't see myself looking at the far left without the side eye any longer... burn the town a little or a lot to save it is only progressive to those who can afford the town being burned

First Nader now this guy... I aint buying what the far left is selling

[YOHABLO]

29. Sanders vs Nadar? Really? You 'ain't' buying? What might that be?

[uponit7771]

40. Both of them had a burn it down to save it attitude

[forjusticethunders]

38. Sadly this is true.

I thought we needed some kind of "Leftist Tea Party" because the right-wing one was so successful, but this idea ignores a fundamental truism - it's a lot easier to destroy than to build and that's why those tactics seem to work, because the goal is fundamentally different. In that regard, Sanders tactics are not only ineffective, but they're alienating people from left politics because who wants to work with someone who is always screaming at you and pretending they're better than you?

[uponit7771]

39. +1, and Nader might not have screamed but he had the same burn it down attitude

[ReasonableToo]

10. The booing reflects poorly on them. The TPP is what should be booed

The Dems should be staging sit-ins to protest TPP. There NEEDS to be an anti-TPP plank in the democratic platform.

When she supports it as pres, it needs to be a broken promise rather than a "no big deal" compromise.

The TPP is an evil multi-national corporate giveaway and it should be fought against tooth and nail.

I condone any efforts on a Bernies part to fight for that plank.

I'm glad he has not given up on us - even though we've given up on us. We've given up on us big time.

Sad.

[MaggieD]

13. So what is the plan to deal with the global economy?

I keep hearing Bernie and his fans criticize all trade agreements, but what I NEVER hear is what is the plan to deal with the reality of a global economy?

Also, what do you have to say about the workers that want the TPP to pass? I bet you don't even know they exist let alone why they favor it.

[AgingAmerican]

25. Free trade agreements are right wing and favor the rich

...to the determent of the rest of the population. No need for any country to join them.

Fair trade agreements are a different matter entirely and should be lauded.

[YOHABLO]

30. Why do you favor the TPP?

[ReasonableToo]

31. Lots of workers want the TPP - CEOs

I'll stand with AFL-CIO and other unions that gave us strong middle class. They don't want it. We don't have to give away sovereignty to corporations in order to trade. Start from scratch. We don't need the BUSH/Cheney trade deal that was written by corporation for corporations.

[seabeyond]

18. No it does not. He once again faced Democrats and told us how we were not good enough.

He earned the boo.

[ReasonableToo]

21. we're not

[seabeyond]

17. Clinton, just keeps on being the adult in the room. My gosh, the very accommodation Sanders griped

about he is now be rewarded with them.

This is what Clinton has done for a lifetime and why she gets things done.

Good for her.

[RobertEarl]

35. The movement is powerful

Lots of votes behind him. And all of us wishing him great success.

[bigtree]

37. it dosen't 'succeed' until Democrats can find a way around republicans

...and Sanders isn't the original author of the initiatives and ideals he's pushing.

The progressive caucus he founded in the House, for example, has been advocating the exact same for years; most of them supporting Hillary throughout the primary.

His 'movement' is campaign sophistry and rhetoric.

[Hiraeth]

43. Standing tall and strong