Discussion for article #245060
But does she have a Ben and Jerrys ice cream flavor?
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That tells me a lot. That she worked well with them and shared the same goals. Sanders can embrace the âoutsiderâ status all he wants, but one wonders how he would handle it if he became âthe establishmentâ? Would he feel the same emotional anguish when he worked in offices as a young man? (The NYT sampled some of his writing from that timeâhow he couldnât stand the soullessness of working in offices). Would he take the Oval Office rural?
Iâve never understood the tremendous appeal of âoutsidersâ. I get the whole idea of cronyism and corruption, but I donât see how someone who has no clue how the process really works is better?
I heard a GOP pundit say that the rise of Trump is because voters want to take a baseball bat to Washington ⌠WTF? If my car is running like crap and wonât start, of course I get frustrated and WANT to take a baseball bat to it ⌠but I donât, 'cuz that would be stupid, I need my car. I take it to someone who knows how to fix it. And if they rip me off, then I find another one, and so on, until I get someone who can get me back on the road.
I donât take it to a bicycle mechanic and tell him to blow it up for me.
Sad to see progressive groups rushing to perform âhara-kiriâ. The socialist dream & novelty of Sanderâs campaign is for wankers, as the MSM savage Clinton & fellate tRump.
The Obama coalition will wither away, zero appointments to SCOTUS may rollback progressive gains, while move.org, the Nation and the likes , wallow in their own hubris.
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That appeal is stronger in a general election to replace an incumbent POTUS whose time is up (two terms) with someone from the other party than it is in a primary race of the incumbentâs own party.
Actually, Bernie has more âinsiderâ political experience as a mayor and member of Congress than Hillary has (or Obama had). He is also a more experienced political campaigner who has been through tougher general elections than Hillary, so he presumably knows how to play his strongest hand with the cards he has been dealt.
That being said, the primary frontrunner is still Hillary, unless she misplays her leading hand. The general election is another matter, and I think the Democrats should work at it as if they were the decided underdogs.
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This year the pundits seem to be right even less often than stopped clocks â but they are still right once in a while, and this is one such case. Obama and his cabinet members actively showing their support for her candidacy is a big net-positive for her in the primary.
True, it does reinforce Bernieâs positioning as the outsider vs the establishment, but this is the part of the establishment that most Democrats are least dissatisfied with.
And having Obama kind of stepping in to help her out, along with Bill, does risk making it look like they think she canât get there on her own without their help. But since both Obama and Bill Clinton are wildly popular with Democrats, having their active support (or even pseudo-covertly as in Obamaâs case) surely helps Hillary a good deal more than it hurts.
If she manages to hold on in Iowa, it will be in part due to Obamaâs (implied) support for her candidacy. There are lots of downsides to being the candidate of the âestablishmentâ and the âstatus quoâ in this election cycle, but this pseudo-endorsement from Obama is a reminder that being on the âestablishmentâ / âWashington insiderâ team does carry significant rewards, even in this year of Trumpmentum and Berniemania.
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We shall see. I think a lot of this ephemera is a media creation.
I donât agree. As the article said, most Democrats like Obama and Hillary. Strength in numbers.
I agree with that.
With which part of my comment?
My mistake â I read âbut this is the part of the establishment that most Democrats are least dissatisfied with.â quickly and took the opposite reading
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No sweat, and sorry, my wording there was definitely a bit awkward and thus prone to be misread.
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