# Progressives dropped out of the Democratic primaries at the worst possible time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 20, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165 "2020-05-20T03:02:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/21 "2020-05-20T16:31:32Z")
I have considerable for **Velocity** ’s point of view, but… Oh well, **Stranger** said it better than I could so I will recommend rereading his post. Even the emaciated form of health care that is the ACA is in serious danger of being outlawed by SCOTUS. The fact that they delayed their decision until after the election makes me think that that is what they are about to do. Put one more ultra-conservative on the court and social security could follow. The problem isn’t getting the president behind the progressaive (which I call social democratic) agenda but getting congress and the courts to agree. I think Biden will get behind making Medicare open to all, just not compulsory for all. But people might realize that employer provided med insurance is maybe not all it’s cracked up to be if it can be taken away from you in an instant. The people who have just lost their jobs can probably not afford to continue paying for the wonderful insurance until they get another–if they get another within 18 months. I expect that if Medicare open to all materializes, employers will slowly (or maybe quickly) abandon their health plans, providing money to pay into Medicare. If congress gives Medicare the right to negotiate prices, I expect the whole thing will end up cheaper all around. Of course, all the medical coders will need unemployment. No president, no matter how progressive can just snap his fingers and get his agenda done. Do you recall how hard it was to get ACA through the senate when the Dems led 60-40? Of course they needed to break the filibuster so 60 votes. I suspect the filibuster will finally disappear and good riddance. But it still looks like the _best_ the Dems can hope for is 51-49 and that is not guaranteed. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/22 "2020-05-20T16:46:21Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > If everyone voted for Bernie who said they would he’d be the nominee right now. 😕 I don’t think this is remotely true, and am curious what your logic is here. If it were true, I’d expect that the pattern we would have seen would be Sanders leading in the “All Adults” poll and then “suprisingly” losing in the actual primary. What we actual saw was Sanders losing in the polls, and then Sanders losing in the primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/23 "2020-05-20T16:59:17Z")
I still feel that Biden is more electable than Sanders. But I agree that might no longer have been an issue. Trump is failing so badly that he’s reaching the point that any Democratic nominee could beat him. Looking ahead, I don’t think a public health care system is going to be the big progressive issue next year. The problems we’ve had during this crisis were the result of a failure in political leadership not basic healthcare. I think the big issue will be economic recovery; we’re going to need some New Deal like programs to get the economy moving again. And we’re going to need to pay for all the money we’ve spent and we’re going to have to spend for this. Progressives need to stop trying to take Biden down and start working with him. Biden may not be a dream candidate but he had a strong record in Congress of shepherding bills through the system and getting them enacted as laws. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/24 "2020-05-20T17:10:21Z")
> [@LoneRhino](#): > > Why are you still holding on to the idea that policy positions are the most important thing for a president. I want a president that actually governs like a sane person. While Biden wasn’t my first choice, he will bring sanity back to the white house. Give me a president that appoints smart, qualified people and listens to experts before making decisions. Bernie Sanders has never come close to enacting universal health care in 30 years in congress. If he were president he wouldn’t miraculously get it done. If Sanders and the Democrats can actually get a bill through congress, I guarantee you that Biden, or any other Democrat, would sign it. Very true. While volunteering on the Pete campaign, I talked with many voters who were Pete/Warren supporters or Warren/Pete supporters. They liked the wonkish approach to politics even though Pete and Warren’s policy positions weren’t identical. I often gathered ballot access signatures with an Amy supporter and she frequently mentioned Amy/Warren and Warren/Amy voters because they really wanted a woman nominee even with the different policies. And yes, while Biden will have his hands full and won’t be shouting from the mountain top about health care reform. But, he’ll certainly get behind it if something gains momentum in Congress. During all that debate time about fantasy health care policies, I wish Biden had brought up that he had a front row view of the bloodbath for the ACA. It’s not just as simple as just saying M4A polls well and thus it’ll be enacted immediately upon putting the hand on the Bible like it’s a Harry Potter spell. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/25 "2020-05-20T18:38:50Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > And yes, while Biden will have his hands full and won’t be shouting from the mountain top about health care reform. But, he’ll certainly get behind it if something gains momentum in Congress. During all that debate time about fantasy health care policies, I wish Biden had brought up that he had a front row view of the bloodbath for the ACA. It’s not just as simple as just saying M4A polls well and thus it’ll be enacted immediately upon putting the hand on the Bible like it’s a Harry Potter spell. Biden was also there for Bill Clinton’s push for healthcare reform. The failure to pass anything was partially responsible for the 1994 mid-term debacle, which was probably the biggest shift in congressional politics in modern times. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/26 "2020-05-20T18:45:05Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Biden is a perfectly serviceable nominee that has an excellent chance at besting Donald Trump as long as he can stop massaging womens’ shoulders and **manage to not trip over his own tongue** This llama is a perfectly serviceable horse that has an excellent chance of winning the Kentucky Derby as long as he can manage to stop being a llama and be a horse instead. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/27 "2020-05-20T19:01:29Z")
> [@LoneRhino](#): > > Why are you still holding on to the idea that policy positions are the most important thing for a president. I want a president that actually governs like a sane person. While Biden wasn’t my first choice, he will bring sanity back to the white house. Give me a president that appoints smart, qualified people and listens to experts before making decisions. Bernie Sanders has never come close to enacting universal health care in 30 years in congress. If he were president he wouldn’t miraculously get it done. If Sanders and the Democrats can actually get a bill through congress, I guarantee you that Biden, or any other Democrat, would sign it. Yes, this. Look, The President is not a dictator, trumps wishes notwithstanding. If Sanders was the president, he’d be no closer to getting his health plan enacted than he does now. Biden has a plausible and possible way towards some sort of UHC, something that could possibly get thru Congress. Even if the GOP retains a tiny majority in the Senate, Biden has a decent chance of getting a couple Republican senators to cross the aisle. Not to mention his Veep can break ties. As 'wonderful" as Bernies plan was- it was never gonna pass Congress, Covid or no. In fact, if it did get passed, the mass chaos that would occur during the lead in period would be worse for America during this crisis- altho admittedly later on, when it all shook out the health plan would be magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/28 "2020-05-21T08:50:02Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Even the emaciated form of health care that is the ACA is in serious danger of being outlawed by SCOTUS. The fact that they delayed their decision until after the election makes me think that that is what they are about to do. Put one more ultra-conservative on the court and social security could follow. The problem isn’t getting the president behind the progressaive (which I call social democratic) agenda but getting congress and the courts to agree. The only reason the ACA was problematic in the courts was because of a national mandate that a person buy a product was incompatible with the Commerce Clause. All of the Justices (except for maybe Clarence Thomas) wouldn’t have a problem with a nationally paid health care system, and definitely not social security. But I want to push back at the OP’s premise. It’s one thing to say that you support a bunch of government spending as an emergency measure in the middle of a national, indeed world-wide, disaster. It is another thing altogether to say that people would support that as a matter of course in normal times. So I’m not sure how a change of timing would have helped Bernie. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165/29 "2020-05-21T13:22:06Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Based on recent overtures from the Biden camp to the Progressive wing to more or less reshape the party platform\* and overall direction as the campaign really gets going now (according to reports from reputable sources), I’d say both sides may get their cake and eat it, too. (Except for the hard-core revolutionaries, of course). > > \*I think this move was going to happen anyway, but, as the OP suggested, the coronavirus health crisis probably “primed the pump.” . [Today’s 538 chat](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-pandemic-has-pushed-biden-to-the-left-how-far-will-he-go/) is about this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-dropped-out-of-the-democratic-primaries-at-the-worst-possible-time/854165.md?page=1)