Current Events > Bernie Sanders building team, moderating positions ahead of 2020

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/5/15802616/bernie-sanders-2020

...Earlier this year, Sanders — who doesn’t sit on the Foreign Relations, Armed Services, or Intelligence Committees — quietly added to his team Matt Duss, a veteran Middle East analyst known for looking askance at America’s tendency toward uncritical alliance with Saudi Arabia and Israel. It’s a clear sign that Sanders, who had a keen interest in left-wing foreign policy as mayor of Burlington but hasn’t had much of a profile on the issue in Congress, is serious about being able to play competently on the full spectrum of issues.

Sanders also picked up Ari Rabin-Havt, best known in recent years for his Sirius XM radio show but previously an adviser for Harry Reid in his early years as Democrats’ Senate leader.

While Sanders is deepening his team in Washington, his national political organization Our Revolution is diligently working to get Sanders supporters elected to state and local offices. Critically, the list of Our Revolution winners — a group that includes House members, state legislators, state party chairs, and even city council members — is quite ethnically diverse. His camp is aware that 2016’s African-American outreach strategy was flawed in both concept and execution, and he’s setting himself up to be able to count on black and Latino elected officials from all regions of the country as surrogates while also courting national leaders like the NAACP’s William Barber.

Last but by no means least, even while continuing to build his national political organization and to stay in the public eye as the champion of a rising generation of young leftists, Sanders is quietly moving to address party officials’ concerns about ideological extremism.

His June 13 New York Times op-ed, provocatively titled “How Democrats Can Stop Losing Elections,” is perhaps the ultimate expression of post-election Sanders.

It retains the caustic tone toward the party leadership that’s a key source of his appeal to left-of-center voters who dislike Republicans but don’t feel an emotional or intellectual connection to the Democratic Party. And it retains his commitment to the idea that “Democrats must guarantee health care to all as a right, through a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program” — an idea that for years most Democrats (including, at times, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, etc.) have said they embrace in theory but have almost always shied away from proposing in practice.

But on other issue areas, Sanders’s proposals — make the wealthy pay more in taxes, invest in infrastructure, encourage clean energy, create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, reform the criminal justice system — are in line with the party consensus. His primary season demands to break up large banks, ban hydraulic fracturing nationwide, and impose a carbon tax are gone from the agenda. In the wake of the success of “Bernie Would Have Won” as a slogan, Sanders has deeply engaged his base using Medicare-for-all while reconfiguring other elements of his platform into something more moderate than the one he actually ran on and for which a much stronger electability argument can be made.

Before anyone remarks about his age, he's only a year older than Joe Biden. I don't see anyone discrediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

Glass_Phantom posted...

don't see anyone discrediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

They should be.

I have an issue with the age thing. It wouldn't stop me from voting for him if he was on the ballot, but I do think younger leadership is a necessity for the left and the Democratic Party as a whole.
---

smart of him

foreign policy is definitely his weakest area
---

Bernie was just a fad that ended up catching fire with a demographic least likely to vote. Neither will run. Also, he'll be almost 80 by time he gets sworn in.
---

Antifar posted...

I have an issue with the age thing. It wouldn't stop me from voting for him if he was on the ballot, but I do think younger leadership is a necessity for the left and the Democratic Party as a whole.

Who is your pick for 2020? Sherrod Brown?

I have not seen anyone even crediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.
---

Capn Circus posted...

Bernie was just a fad that ended up catching fire with a demographic least likely to vote. Neither will run. Also, he'll be almost 80 by time he gets sworn in.

then we get a Bernie approved President when he kicks it
---

Antifar posted...

Glass_Phantom posted...

don't see anyone discrediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

They should be.

I have an issue with the age thing. It wouldn't stop me from voting for him if he was on the ballot, but I do think younger leadership is a necessity for the left and the Democratic Party as a whole.

This. I wouldn't vote for Biden and I hope neither run tbqh. I'm not looking forward to infighting of Biden v Warren v Sanders

He'll be 200 years old.

Who's he going to take as his running mate? Strom Thurmond's ghost?
---

Iodine posted...

I have not seen anyone even crediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

This.
---

D-Lo_BrownTown posted...

Iodine posted...

I have not seen anyone even crediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

This.

Really? I feel like there's been a lot of speculation on Joe Biden.

He has to be careful not to moderate too much, even in stature. He's a bit limited in terms of charisma and while he's certainly the most popular figure on the left, he's not the only one whose a credible primary contender.

it'd have been better imo if biden had ran in 2016
then again, I think overall it's better for the dems to listen to sanders, which I don't think would've happened the same way if biden had seriously ran
---

Glass_Phantom posted...

D-Lo_BrownTown posted...

Iodine posted...

I have not seen anyone even crediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

This.

Really? I feel like there's been a lot of speculation on Joe Biden.

I think I've seen it said once during a meltdown on a message board around the time Trump was elected.

Outside of that, nothing.
---

Glass_Phantom posted...

Antifar posted...

I have an issue with the age thing. It wouldn't stop me from voting for him if he was on the ballot, but I do think younger leadership is a necessity for the left and the Democratic Party as a whole.

Who is your pick for 2020? Sherrod Brown?

He's like 65, isn't he? I'm hardly a Sherrod Brown expert, but my general feel is that he's better than most Dems but there are areas where I'm still skeptical of him.

You know who I'd like to see run? And I don't think he will. Rev. William Barber. He's led a lot of grassroots activism in NC over the past decade, and has gotten some national attention for it. He spoke at the DNC last year. But I get the sense he isn't interested in running for office.
---

prince_leo posted...

it'd have been better imo if biden had ran in 2016
then again, I think overall it's better for the dems to listen to sanders, which I don't think would've happened the same way if biden had seriously ran

I would pay a lot of money to see Biden debate Trump.

My hope is that the centrist vote is split this time among Booker/Cuomo/Biden, etc. while the left coalesces around just one candidate who would win as a result.
---

He's gonna be like 80-something >_> He's too old
---

Antifar posted...

My hope is that the centrist vote is split this time among Booker/Cuomo/Biden, etc. while the left coalesces around just one candidate who would win as a result.

I hope you're right man, I really do
---

Antifar posted...

You know who I'd like to see run? And I don't think he will. Rev. William Barber. He's led a lot of grassroots activism in NC over the past decade, and has gotten some national attention for it. He spoke at the DNC last year. But I get the sense he isn't interested in running for office.

I remember him! He had a great speech at the DNC.

In the absence of Bernie... I actually think Stephen Colbert would not be a bad choice. I'm not a huge fan of celebrity-in-politics, but he's youthful, energetic, popular, and his excoriation of George W. Bush over the Iraq War in 2006 is still legendary. He's got charisma and he's quick enough to run circles around Donald Trump in any debate. And he could definitely turn out youth voters.

Glass_Phantom posted...

D-Lo_BrownTown posted...

Iodine posted...

I have not seen anyone even crediting a potential Joe Biden run in 2020.

This.

Really? I feel like there's been a lot of speculation on Joe Biden.

Oh im pretty confident Biden will run, but I have not seen anyone agreeing that it is a good decision.
---

Okay, but will he pay more than a 13.5% tax rate? For a supposed socialist, that's incredibly low.
---

Iodine posted...

Oh im pretty confident Biden will run, but I have not seen anyone agreeing that it is a good decision.

I think Joe Biden would beat Donald Trump regardless of his age.

Another person who would be cool to run but who would extremely not fly with Democrats (and probably not want to run as one) is Kshama Sawant.
---

I was honestly kind of hoping for a Bernie-inspired candidate rather than Bernie himself, because fair or not, age will be held against him.

I still love the guy, though.
---

Isn't Sanders currently under investigation for Bank Fraud? He's got a lot more important things to worry about than if he has a shot in hell of winning anything in 2020.
---

Antifar posted...

Another person who would be cool to run but who would extremely not fly with Democrats (and probably not want to run as one) is Kshama Sawant.

Sounds good to me! Both of the people you described would be eviscerated by Trump.
---

DNC will screw him over again.
---

One thing that dawned on me is: unless Biden runs, there might not be a Democratic candidate who voted for Iraq, which is good but also it's convenient having such a blatant and obvious failure to hold against people.
---

Crazyman93 posted...

Isn't Sanders currently under investigation for Bank Fraud?

1. His wife, not him.
2. https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/400-current-events/75538346
---

GreatEvilEmpire posted...

Okay, but will he pay more than a 13.5% tax rate? For a supposed socialist, that's incredibly low.

Cut the poor guy some slack

He's barely scraping by with his four houses and all
---

GreatEvilEmpire posted...

Okay, but will he pay more than a 13.5% tax rate? For a supposed socialist, that's incredibly low.

I was stunned at hypocrisy when I found out about that.
---

Iodine posted...

GreatEvilEmpire posted...

Okay, but will he pay more than a 13.5% tax rate? For a supposed socialist, that's incredibly low.

I was stunned at hypocrisy when I found out about that.

You were stunned that a politician was full of shit? Really? I saw the guy as a charlatan a mile away. He just tells young people things they want to hear to get and keep power.
---

Antifar posted...

One thing that dawned on me is: unless Biden runs, there might not be a Democratic candidate who voted for Iraq, which is good but also it's convenient having such a blatant and obvious failure to hold against people.

Unfortunately, I think we're far enough displaced in time that the Iraq War won't sit in the memory of a lot of voters in the future. By 2020, lots of people will be old enough to vote who were only toddlers when George W. Bush made up that story about WMD's... Personally, I can't fathom how so many people can bring themselves to vote for the same party that got thousands of Americans and over a million Iraqis killed over *nothing* in that phony war. But they voted for Trump-Pence, so there you are.

he's planning ahead. after he beats trump and hillary he'll want another four years.
---

Glass_Phantom posted...

I can't fathom how so many people can bring themselves to vote for the same party that got thousands of Americans and over a million Iraqis killed over *nothing* in that phony war. But they voted for Trump-Pence, so there you are.

Trump was against the Iraq war. Also, Trump went into the first Republican debate, proudly raising his hand saying he would not guarantee he would be running as a Republican--bold move! Though Trump did end up running as a Republican, he did so strategically and many voters realized he wasn't an establishment Republican.
---

Glass_Phantom posted...

Unfortunately, I think we're far enough displaced in time that the Iraq War won't sit in the memory of a lot of voters in the future.

Presidents Grant, Hayes, Arthur were all elected based on their service in the Civil War. McKinley served too but they used a different set of tactics for him. Hell, the only non-Republican to get into office during that time period was Cleveland, who hired a substitute during the war.

Of course, in the modern era, information moves faster and kids have shorter memories. But msot of the voter base is retired.
---

Capn Circus posted...

Trump was against the Iraq war. Also, Trump went into the first Republican debate, proudly raising his hand saying he would not guarantee he would be running as a Republican--bold move! Though Trump did end up running as a Republican, he did so strategically and many voters realized he wasn't an establishment Republican.

He's sure governing like one. Don't think I've ever seen a president who was more determined to milk the office for profit while screwing over the people. Or a bigger imbecile. And I lived through George W. Bush!

Glass_Phantom posted...

Capn Circus posted...

Trump was against the Iraq war. Also, Trump went into the first Republican debate, proudly raising his hand saying he would not guarantee he would be running as a Republican--bold move! Though Trump did end up running as a Republican, he did so strategically and many voters realized he wasn't an establishment Republican.

He's sure governing like one. Don't think I've ever seen a president who was more determined to milk the office for profit while screwing over the people. Or a bigger imbecile. And I lived through George W. Bush!

Nah, certainly not overall. I highly doubt the other Republican candidates would have gotten rid of TPP, enacted a travel ban, and ramped up border security to the point of an over 50% decline in illegal immigration---a long with proposing a wall and rolling back crippling regulations---and aggressively attempting to slash the budget by getting rid of more or less useless bureaucratic positions.
---