The problem is that Warren is able to operate in this framework because Sanders created it. At their core, the grievance of Sanders supporters is basically not giving Sanders his just due and badmouthing him and tossing him to the side. It’s all about hurt feelings. I might be the first Warren supporter on here but even I am taken aback by it. Sanders is one the most moral and important senators of the past decade and his 2016 campaign should be recognized as a watershed moment. The person who goes first rarely wins but they show that there is a way. Warren 2020 does not exist without Sanders 2016. And quietly, a lot of people are admitting that they never actually read anything Sanders said or drafted in the lead up to, and during 2016 or since then. Many are admitting that you need it in a big shiny familiar package or that you just never liked him as a personality so you never gave him the chance or maybe you didn’t see a leftward path so you closed your ears. The revisionist history of Bernie winning if he just used different words is laughable. People were questioning the very blackness and intelligence of a Bernie supporters in
2016 even if our support was policy-based. I can pull up all the receipts from then and a lot of you are being disingenuous and that is annoying the shyt out of Sanders supporters. The argument is basically that if Bernie had only talked to me nicer I would’ve voted for him but he didn’t so I voted for the diametrically opposed candidate. Stop insulting their intelligence and maybe this coalition will get together. They want you to admit that maybe you got it wrong or didn’t think it was feasible and you guys want to be infallible. This is all those 2016 debates come down to. I thought we were over it but it’s the same thing under a different veneer. nothing but ego.
Sanders never got to the details in speeches because he was arguing that it was a good idea to do all of these things in the first place. He was laying the groundwork for it to be even a legitimate thought for college to be tuition free or Medicare for all or for drastically taxing Wall Street. He was arguing why it should be done. He never even got to the point where it was how. By 2018 we had decided that it should be done and now this campaign is based on how to do it. He shifted the Overton window and using the current window to judge Sanders in 2016 is ridiculous. Every single Warren policy was laughed at as insane in 2016 when it was a Bernie policy. Many are pretending that they would’ve rolled with Bernie 2016 if he just said it like Warren but that just wasn’t the case.
Yang and others admit that Bernie made it all possible and you’re acting like the man who popularized these ideas and reinvigorated the American left to levels not seen since the early 80s does not have the reputation as being one of the most annoyingly well read people in Congress. It’s basically “thanks for doing all the hard work now fukk out of here, Warren 2020.” Warren is doing well because many on the left want to finally get their white woman president and they feel like Bernie’s politics are needed to motivate the youth and activists. If you took away Bernie 2016, they would have rallied around Kloubuchar, Harris and Gillibrand.
Bernie proposed a wealth tax in 2017 and Warren didn’t cosponsor it. The idea that she is moving him left is laughable. Bernie had to run away from the wealth tax when running for US Senate because his opponent brought up his support for it in his writings in the 90s. Dems were like, what my nikka? It’s the same reason he didn’t bring it up in 2016 when his camp debated it. The fact that he is comfortable doing it now and that Liz is, speaksto how much the landscape has changed and I am genuinely happy about it.
The only way that Warren is changing him is in regards to roll out but his are met with scrutiny whereas everything she says is taken at face value as well thought out and shrewd. This isn’t “messaging” it is personality based. And ultimately, this was my exact reason for saying Warren 2020 as the intermediary because I knew this would happen. Liz might win this thing, but if you’re Liz 2020 and weren’t Bernie 2016, you don’t really get to try to rewrite history here and make it a hard pill for Sanders supporters to swallow. Everyone needs to relax.
There is a lot of truth in what you wrote, and I agree with the majority of it. I have said in multiple posts that I think Bernie deserve an immense amount of credit for pushing the Overton Window to the left. I also appreciate the fact that he stepped up to challenge HRC in 2016, something I thought Warren should of done. With that said 2020 is is very different from 2016.
You have to remember a lot of Bernie supporters in 2016 were actually originally Warren supporters. I should know because I was one of them. I signed a daft Warren petition in 2016. There were reports that Bernie tried to get Warren to run, and wouldn’t of even launched his campaign if she would of ran. This is something that I kind of hold against Warren even though I understand why she chose not to run.
I understand why Sanders supporters are frustrated. There was a lot of fukkery that went on 2016, and the Main stream Media coverage of his campaign has been atrocious. CNN, and MSNBC go out of their way to ignore any good numbers, or news for Bernie. As soon as he slips they are all over it. With that said Bernie and his team have made some major mistakes imo.
One area I disagree with you is messaging/presentations. For example saying billionaires shouldn’t exist is not good messaging for the general population. It plays well in lefty circles but it comes off as vindictive. I better way to frame it is the way Cenk from TYT does it. He often say he doesn’t have a problem with people like LeBron James or Oprah having the amount of money they have, because they largely acquired their money off their hard work, and talent. They did not get their money off of exploiting people and rigging the system. But their tax rates should be higher, and also pointing out how corporations and the rich rigged the system. That message is more digestible than just stating billionaires shouldn’t exist.
Another framing/messaging issues that was a mistake is how he talks and frame Black issues imo. I was open to supporting Bernie when he announced. I had anticipated that he would be better this time around with how he talked about Black issues. So I was beyond disappointed when I heard his answer at the first CNN town hall on reparations. It not that he was just against reparations. It his framing of the issue. He comes off as someone who has no knowledge or experience dealing with Black issues. The only thing he had to say was that I support HR40 and move on. Instead he doesn’t answer the question spit some bullshyt about the 10 20 30 plan, and when pressed finally states he doesn’t support it. He states that reparations is divisive, but so is eliminating private insurance. Just a total crap answer. What made it worse is a lot of his supporters defended his bullshyt answer which alienated me from his movement. Warren is not perfect on this either, but at least when she talks I get the feeling she understand the economic devastation that this country inflicted on Black Americans, and she has a specific historical redlining plan, and is in favor of HR40.
Another mistake was the last debate. His team should of pulled him back from doing speeches before the debate. IMO content wise he did very well. However, he looked disheveled and his voice was bad. It shouldn’t matter, but unfortunately it does to the general public.
I could go on but this post is long enough
