Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Barack Obama supporters outraged by Bernie Sanders' 'deplorable' attack on Democratic Party [View all]betsuni
(25,122 posts)He was president for eight years, not a "candidate." Leader of the Democratic Party. He didn't just read speeches on the teleprompter at rallies and be charismatic. Responsible for the "business model" of "failure." Bernie doesn't seem to know that there was a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for only four months and ten days when Democrats had that two year slight majority and unprecedented Republican obstruction the full eight years. The Republican Patty is organized crime/radically right-wing insane -- there is no "both sides."
As if Democrats could do anything they wanted but didn't, and as we know from the thousands of times he's said it, he thinks it's because of corruption: "The point that I make over and over ... is the ideas that I talk about are the ideas that the American people want. They don't get it because you've got a Congress indebted to wealthy campaign contributors."
So how was President Obama corrupt, Bernie? As Hillary Clinton pointed out: "President Obama took more money from Wall Street in 2008 than anybody ever had. And when it came time to stand up to Wall Street, he passed and signed the toughest regulations since the Great Depression, with the Dodd-Frank regulations."
And no, the ACA was not (as I've so often seen) some sort of proof of being in the pocket of Big Pharma and insurance. The bill with a public option passed Congress, couldn't get through the Senate because of a handful of moderates (obviously no Republican votes). Bernie knew how hard it was, that single payer was out of the question (2010): "I would say that in the Senate, there are at most 10 votes for a single payer plan. In the House I have no idea, but it's a small minority. It's absurd to say, 'Mr. President, go forward and make your bill single payer' when you've got 10% of the Congress supports you."
If he thinks Democrats are corrupt and failures, he should give examples. If he knows of elected officials taking bribes, why doesn't he expose them? It's baffling!
And the idea that Americans are carefully examining the Democratic and Republican platforms and rejecting the Democrats because it's not progressive enough so they'd rather go with Republicans is:
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden