On day one, Obama’s inauguration, the Kochs vowed to stop his progressive agenda. They knew it would threaten their empire, and we’ve seen their efforts unfold since then. Astro Turf groups, Americans For Prosperity, easily bought members of Congress, the courtship of Supreme Court Justices, and I wonder why Bern doesn’t think they’ll come after him too since the Kochtopus has only grown more tentacles.
“millions and millions of people” including the ones who don’t show up for elections
Trashing President Obama will play exceedingly well in the AA community. Maybe Sen. Sanders is really speaking to the Trump supporters.
His “something, something, abracadabra, revolution, boom, economic paradise” platform is a little too fantastic. But, hey. That’s just me.
Which I don’t see as a great strategy.Its looking more and more like Bernie is trying to engineer an independent run on the Democratic infrastructure, wanting to toss out all Democrats in the process.
And going after Obama on the eve of the South Carolina election? In what universe is that a good idea??
I think somebody’s feathers got ruffled by Carney’s statements yesterday.
I guess you haven’t heard the criticism of Obama that he failed to leverage the mass of people that supported him (for whatever reasons). And it didn’t work out so well – that’s the point.
Bernie is saying that citizens are the ones to can create a political revolution; it’s too big for an elected official, even the president.
“millions and millions of people”
It’ll be Yuge!
There have been quite a few Green Lanterns so far. White test pilot. Black architect. Gay artist. An entire freaking planet.
But I am pretty sure that hasn’t been a Vermont socialist one.
Someone should notify DC, pronto, to get on that oversight.
Why do you continue to bad mouth President Obama? He is the best POTUS ever!!
And you think as an old man that screeches and points his finger at everyone, that thinks your way is the only way, is actually going to do a better job than Obama?
That’s a laugh!!
One thing that I cannot stand about you berns, you bad mouth President Obama, then try to ride his coattails…MEH
BS. If Sanders actually thought that, he wouldn’t need to run for POTUS as a Democrat.
He’d just send out a clarion call for revolution and - well, it’d just happen. He doesn’t need to be POTUS in order to facilitate “the revolution.”
Please read abbymac’s post above.
The 2008 democratic primary in NH had 287,542 voters. In 2016 it was 250,983.
So maybe the new voters will come from somewhere else.
When Sanders loses the nomination–and I believe he will lose it–I hope his followers are still revved up enough to go into the voting booths and vote for Clinton. When the time comes, I believe Sen. Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton for POTUS – and I hope his die-hard followers will take his advice … for the good of us all.
(I say this as a Progressive who, by and large, supports Sanders’ positions.)
That is what concerns me about Bernie and I like him and I believe he believes what he says but if a pragmatist can’t get anything done in this republican held congress, how does he think he can. If he gets the nomination, they are literally going to throw the kitchen sink at him and then it will depend how much of those young people will come out to vote - and there is still the issue of those states with strict Voter ID Laws. which really worries me
But, I, Bernie Sanders, on the other hand am an elderly, white, obstreperous, quasi-socialist, leader dude.
Sorry, Senator Sanders, but you are the new shiny penny for young people right now. As soon as the mid terms come up the young people will be busy with the new shiny penny whatever that will be. It won’t be voting that’s for sure.
Politics is the art of the possible…and I like Bernie, and I believe he’s sincere. However, I’m not hearing a whole lot of possible from him.
No matter how much the people stand in the streets and scream, the Republicans will not listen to anyone but their own echo chamber. They ignored us after Sandy Hook, they ignored us after Obama was elected and 70% of the country wanted a change in the healthcare system, they ignored us on Citizens United, and they continue to ignore us today.
Calling for the masses to come scream some more isn’t going to move them…and thanks to their capturing a bunch of statehouses and governorships in the first midterm after “THE OTHER” became president, they are locked into power in at least half of the Legislative branch until at least 2022.
I have been saying that. Young-ung love to vote in a Presidential election then never show up in the mid-terms and wait until they find out Bernie couldn’t fulfill his promises in 2 years - they won’t show up.
I think Senator Sanders has a temper tantrum.
I suspect you may not be too far off the mark. Bernie’s campaign is feeling flush after their win in a very white NH,and are no doubt reading over the exit poll data and telling themselves that race DOESN’T matter, we can win this thing on the youth vote with large independent turn out.
Blacks make up over half of the Democratic voters in South Carolina. And those voters are overwhelmingly behind Obama’s policies. They also have been seeing the same thing rest of the country has with regards to numerous slights and insults leveled against Obama. Except they see them precisely for the racist tones involved.
Coming out blasting Obama’s policies when he is already polling below 20% with Blacks nationwide…is only making his problem there worse. Because now he is making it an ideological issue instead of just a racial appeal issue.
The Black Caucus coming out today for Hillary is just another reminder of all this.
THIS!! AND MORE OF THIS!!!
I agree with you and HOPE they will listen to reason. I fear it won’t happen. FWIW, a few years ago I was big Sanders supporter. I was quite proud of him in 2010 when he mounted a filibuster against tax cuts… I suspect his supporters will get quite disillusioned once Clinton gets elected and he kinda fades into obscurity. (see: Occupy Wall Street)
Not only will the revolution NOT be televised, it won’t be happening.
And I doubt Pelosi is going to entertain ideas from him in the future Congress after this stunt.
Sanders has a point, but he is trying very hard not to point the finger at how the DNC abandoned Obama once he was elected. In fact, the DNC worked very hard throughout Congress to not only not support policies Obama had campaigned on, but made it clear that if he wanted anyone in his cabinet, they had better be pre-approved by the Clintons, hence the Clinton Redux Cabinet.
The DNC cost us the Congress in 2010 by failing to adequately support progressives, and without those kinds of people in Congress, Obama’s plans on which he ran were dead on arrival, even in a Democratic Congress. Even getting the ACA past cost him a lot when he appointed the Clinton Shill to DHHS, after she oversaw the worst public health care program in America and in her first speech, threw single payer under the bus to appease the Clintons.
So, I support President Obama but Sanders is right - he did little to close the gap between Congress and the American People, and the DNC made sure it stayed that way. Consider this: in 2008, Obama gave the Congressional Democrats a larger share of the Congressional pie, but thanks to the racists in the GOP and no significant push-back from the DNC over their overt racism, the GOP took back first the House and then in 2014 the entire Congress. Obama slowed the tide in 2012, but with no thanks to the DNC.
Obama brought people into the process, but the DNC drove them out. Do any of you remember how many progressive politicians talked about getting challenged from within the party establishment and lost funding, and then the race? I can think of a few, and I am reminded of what Rahm Emanuel, the salesman for industry of Democrats, said about Progressives in Congress: Ignore what they want, they will follow what the party tells them to do in the end. This is the attitude of the Democrats in every state I have lived in over the last 8 years - and quite frankly that has done more to keep Congress separate from Americans than even the GOP.
Sanders will find himself facing the same problems unless Americans force their local party operations to understand that if they want to Congress back, they need to run progressive Democrats because most Democrats are not into corporate cronyism that they seem to choose as candidates. Here in Oregon for example, not only did the Dems in District 1 not put up a progressive, they put up three candidates in the primary that were all products of the military/industrial complex, and were essentially no different than GOP candidate Greg Walden. And I know in other states the same thing has held true as well.
Progressives need to run for office and force their local parties to get behind them. Otherwise, the Democrats are nothing more than GOP Lite, and apparently that is just fine with the DNC. This is what Sanders is talking about, and on that Obama has never had a chance, thanks to DWS, the DNC, the DLC, and the Clintons.