Here’s my reaction to the Bernie Bros and rabidly enthusiastic Bernie supporters. Start watching something other than YouTube videos and read something other than Demo Underground, and start reading about the history of the 1990s a little.
First of all, Hillary Clinton actually does have established progressive credentials. She and her husband introduced legislation to change our healthcare system, which was shot down in congress. That effort came almost two decades before Obamacare. It failed but she tried. She and her husband also supported the Brady Bill, which passed. Both pieces of legislation, however, led to a wave of right wing propaganda and a republican victory in 1994. The Clintons paid a very heavy price for supporting a progressive agenda. And so did the democratic party, which brings me to my next point.
In politics, there’s a time to play offense, and there’s a time to play defense. When you lose possession of a basketball, it’s foolish to stand at one end of the court while letting the other team score on the other end. It’s the same in politics. When you lose the political football, you play defense, not offense. A lot of the Clinton votes that may have sided with republicans were defensive votes - votes that were intended to keep the moderates from bailing on the party. Bernie supporters might say that’s not a justification. I beg to differ.
As we’ve seen over the past decade, when republicans take over congress, it’s impossible for a democratic president to get anything done (other than presiding over a government that filibusters and leaves us with a downgrade of the Treasury’s credit rating). When republicans control congress and the white house, we have illegal wars, tax cuts on the wealthiest of Americans, rising income inequality, budget busting deficits, and financial crises. We have Richard Clarke getting demoted and Don Rumsfeld getting promoted. We have the focus away from Osama Bin Laden and onto a once-powerful but de-fanged dictator in Iraq. When republicans take over state governments, we have voter suppression, religious manipulation of schools, crippling budget deficits, and in some states, budgets simply don’t get passed. These are pretty good reasons to play defense, I would say.
I get that Bernie Sanders supporters may not like the fact that ‘moderates’ and independents are at least somewhat occasionally sympathetic to the republican agenda, but the reality is, democrats can’t win without their support. And if democrats lose, the above is what results. And we can’t afford that. Bernie supporters may support the idea of Medicare for all, but none of that is even remotely possible until you get a solid democratic majority in the first place. But aside from that, without a solid democratic majority, not only do many pieces of good legislation not come to pass, but a lot of bad laws do pass. It is possible, over time, to persuade enough centrist voters to support a slightly more progressive agenda.
Beyond that, I just don’t think Bernie Sanders has the kind of foreign policy experience that would in any way qualify him to be president. I am actually glad that Bernie’s getting some attention. I think the country would actually benefit from exploring and co-opting at least some of his ideas. We need a strong progressive influence like him to challenge the news media to do their job. But at the end of the day, I want someone in there who’s going to get things done. Sorry hipsters, but Hillary has a much better shot at doing that than Bernie.