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The Democrats had a good candidate and they were scared he wasn't centrist enough. If there's a lesson from this election, it's that when a candidate inspires

by curun1r 10y ago

The Democrats had a good candidate and they were scared he wasn't centrist enough. If there's a lesson from this election, it's that when a candidate inspires a populist movement, the parties should just let it play out instead of trying to stop it in favor of an establishment candidate. Both parties tried to stop it, but only the Democrats succeeded. The general election was their punishment. Bernie would have beaten Trump. The crucial "rust belt" states that Clinton lost were states where Bernie beat her too. They're states that want to vote Democratic but felt that the Democrat didn't care about their struggles. His platform was completely targeted at helping the lower- and middle-class. Oh, and he probably has no idea what an email server is, let alone how to run his own.

linkregister 10y ago
The major argument against Sanders was that his platform was unrealistic. Remembering the disappointment that President Obama stoked when he was unable to execute much of his platform, many Democratic electors said they wanted the candidate that had a more modest platform that could be realistically achieved. In hindsight, sure, you are right. It's hard to know what do in the moment.
- curun1r 10y ago
  Even if you concede that Sanders' platform was unrealistic, he would have been running against a candidate that wants to build a wall costing somewhere north of 11-figures, get Mexico to pay for it, negotiate better trade deals through sheer force of will and deport millions of illegal immigrants. It's clear the electorate didn't take reality into consideration when casting their votes.
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    Yeah, there are lots of Repubs who could make a plausible "realism" argument, but Trump isn't one of them.
  - linkregister 10y ago
    In retrospect, it was clear that unrealistic promises being reneged mid-campaign weren't liabilities for the Trump campaign. I'm saying that at the time, it wasn't immediately apparent that Sanders's popularity would hold up in the general election.

by curun1r 10y ago

linkregister 10y ago

The major argument against Sanders was that his platform was unrealistic. Remembering the disappointment that President Obama stoked when he was unable to execute much of his platform, many Democratic electors said they wanted the candidate that had a more modest platform that could be realistically achieved. In hindsight, sure, you are right. It's hard to know what do in the moment.

curun1r 10y ago
Even if you concede that Sanders' platform was unrealistic, he would have been running against a candidate that wants to build a wall costing somewhere north of 11-figures, get Mexico to pay for it, negotiate better trade deals through sheer force of will and deport millions of illegal immigrants. It's clear the electorate didn't take reality into consideration when casting their votes.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  Yeah, there are lots of Repubs who could make a plausible "realism" argument, but Trump isn't one of them.
- linkregister 10y ago
  In retrospect, it was clear that unrealistic promises being reneged mid-campaign weren't liabilities for the Trump campaign. I'm saying that at the time, it wasn't immediately apparent that Sanders's popularity would hold up in the general election.