Bernie is running largely on what President Obama so eloquently stated here.

[Uncle Joe]

Even before Citizens United, mega-money ruled the roost, the campaign finance system had been corrupted.

Vast income disparity; something which Bernie has challenged for thirty years, shaped the government which in turn passed Citizens United.

Citizens United was just the full and final drawing back of the curtain exposing the danger posed against our democratic republic to the people.

[itsrobert]

1. Didn't Bernie want to "Primary" Obama in 2012?

Or are we suppose to forget history out of political necessity?

[Uncle Joe]

2. For one week Bernie thought a primary challenge against President Obama would serve him well, Bernie

changed his mind a week later and endorsed Obama.

[itsrobert]

5. That's not how Obama's aides remember it

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/the-obama-campaign-remembers-2012-very-differently-from-bern#.ngO8A60E01

[FrenchieCat]

7. That's what I remember as well....

That there definitely was the search for someone to primary Pres. Obama...

Looks like they couldn't find anyone, and Sanders didn't want to feel all of that heat
himself. So he backed off after some point. That's my understanding.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Around the 1:45.22 mark, I'm gone for a while to view SNL

https://www.freespeech.org/video/thom-hartmann-program-january-11-2016

[jillan]

12. I do believe Chained CPI being on the table was concerning to a man that wants to increase

social security benefits.

As it was to many of us.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Wonder why Obama has gotten rid of that yet....?

Oh...must be that pesky Congress.

Good luck to Bernie in getting that done as he promised!

[Uncle Joe]

4. That's what he election is about, changing the Congress and the attitude of the American People.

Peace to you, FrenchieCat.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Congress has been gerrymandered but good....

so nothing happens in the first 2 years, if.....

also depends of how they mess with our voting power in the meantime, as they have been working on dismantling that all along!

2020 is the year that if we show up and vote, it could make a difference, as it is a census year, and a Presidential election year. So I'm gonna put my eggs in that basket. I'll be old as shit, but oh well! At least I can say I lived in the era of Obama.

[Downwinder]

8. If Bernie puts a call out for support it will be there.

Obama has never asked.

[FrenchieCat]

11. I remember different....

Obama asks voters to stand by him
The president urges voters to support politicians who made difficult votes on health care and stimulus.
http://www.pressherald.com/2010/10/30/obama-asks-voters-to-stand-by-him_2010-10-30/


Obama asks voters to help pressure Congress on jobs plan
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/09/news/la-pn-obama-richmond-20110909


Obama asks Organizing for Action to help him pass his policy agenda
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/organizing-for-action-to-fight-for-obamas-agenda-not-political-candidates/2013/03/13/ad4af7ec-8bef-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html


http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/08/18/with_economy_poll_numbers_low_obama_asks_voters_to_give_him_leverage/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/03/payroll-tax-cut-extension_n_1126957.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/us/politics/12obama.html?_r=0

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/obama-backs-economic-effort-asks-for-voters-help/

There's more....
Also just about every State of the Union address....

Everyone was too busy complaining about what he hadn't done right, or what he hadn't done fast enough...

[Downwinder]

13. He had a computerized campaign machine.

Did you get an email request after the campaign was over?

[FrenchieCat]

14. Well, I'm sure whatever he did and how he did it

wasn't good enough for some!

I'm sure he needed to be on his knees!

After all, the job, after all, called for a janitor to clean up everyone else's shit....

[mcar]

16. That is just not true

[thereismore]

9. The President included foreign corporations in his comment. Now,

we should look into FOREIGN contributions to the Clinton Foundation, allegedly in exchange for State Department favors under Sec. Clinton.

[Gothmog]

15. The only way to destroy Citizens United is for a Democrat to be POTUS

President Obama was against Citizens United but had to use a super pac in 2012 to keep the contest close. Hillary Clinton is against Citizens United and has committed to only appoint SCOTUS justices who will vote to overturn this decision https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/14/hillary-clintons-litmus-test-for-supreme-court-nominees-a-pledge-to-overturn-citizens-united/

Hillary Clinton told a group of her top fundraisers Thursday that if she is elected president, her nominees to the Supreme Court will have to share her belief that the court's 2010 Citizens United decision must be overturned, according to people who heard her remarks.

Clinton's emphatic opposition to the ruling, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on independent political activity, garnered the strongest applause of the afternoon from the more than 200 party financiers gathered in Brooklyn for a closed-door briefing from the Democratic candidate and her senior aides, according to some of those present.

"She got major applause when she said would not name anybody to the Supreme Court unless she has assurances that they would overturn" the decision, said one attendee, who, like others, requested anonymity to describe the private session.

If the make-up of the court does not change by 2017, four of the justices will be 78 years of age or older by the time the next president is inaugurated.

This is the only practical way to undo the damage done by Citizen United in that it will be impossible to get a constitutional amendment through congress and the states to undo this decision. That means that if you want to get rid of Citizens United, then one must support a candidate who can win in 2016 and support the most viable general election candidate.

Sanders would be a weak general election candidate and a defeat of the Democrats in 2016 will guarantee that Citizens United will remain the law of the land

[Uncle Joe]

17. Bernie would be a much stronger general election candidate than Hillary for a multitude of reasons.

[Gothmog]

18. I have asked this question repeatedly and have not received a good answer

Please explain how Sanders will be viable in a general election contest where the Kochs will be spending $887 milllion, the RNC candidate may spend another billion dollars and Michael Bloomberg (who will only run if Sanders is the Democratic nominee) will be spending another billion dollars. I do not see Sanders being viable in that contest.

[Uncle Joe]

19. 1. The strength of Bernie's entire campaign comes from the grass roots; the vast majority of which

haven't come close to topping out and this while he was considered a major underdog, Bernie raised 5 million more dollars than Hillary in January not counting her super-pacs.

2. Bernie's message is based against billionaires; the less than 1% buying our elections and in turn our government, should Bloomberg throw his hat in the ring it will be "Bernie against two billionaires," this will have major resonance with the American People, magnifying and reinforcing the profoundness of Bernie's message even more.

3. The Internet has changed the game, where advertising, multiplication of the message and rebuttal is virtually free, while television is still a force to be reckoned with, the almighty dollar in terms of advertising doesn't have quite the same power that it once held, pre-Internet.

[Gothmog]

20. Sanders is bringing a knife to a gunfight

Some candidates are better able to raise the funds necessary to complete. President Obama blew everyone away in 2008 with his small donor fundraising efforts and that made it clear that he was electable. Jeb is trying to do the same on the GOP side with his $100 million super pac.

There are many on this board who doubt that Sanders will be able to compete in a general election contest where the Kochs will be spending $887 million and the RNC candidate will likely spend another billion. This article had a very interesting quote about the role of super pacs in the upcoming election http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/03/bernie-sanders-grassroots-movement-gains-clinton-machine

Harvard University professor Lawrence Lessig, who founded a Super Pac to end Super Pacs, said Sanders’ renouncing Super Pacs is tantamount to “bringing a knife to a gunfight”.

“I regret the fact the Bernie Sanders has embraced the idea that he’s going to live life like the Vermont snow, as pure as he possibly can, while he runs for president, because it weakens his chances – and he’s an enormously important progressive voice,” Lessig said.

President Obama was against super pacs in 2012 but had to use one to keep the race close. I do not like super pacs but any Democratic candidate who wants to be viable has to use a super pac

I just do not see Sanders being viable in such a general election contest. Again, if Obama had to use a super pac to keep things close, Sanders will be totally outmatched fighting the Kochs and Bloomberg

[Uncle Joe]

21. Bernie is ahead of Obama in regards to total number of contributors at this stage of the campaign.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484


https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/04/bernie-sanders-passed-hillary-clinton-in-fundraising-in-january/

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign raised more than $33 million in the final three months of last year in a way that rewrote the record books for White House campaigns. The tally for the year-end quarter pushed his total raised last year to $73 million from more than 1 million individuals who made a record 2.5 million donations.

“This people-powered campaign is revolutionizing American politics,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager. “What we are showing is that we can run a strong, national campaign without a super PAC and without depending on millionaires and billionaires for their support. We are making history and we are proud of it.”

The 2,513,665 donations to Sanders’ campaign broke the record set four years ago by President Barack Obama’s re-election committee. Through Dec. 31, 2011, Obama had chalked up 2,209,636 donations.

The more than 1 million donors to Sanders also is a milestone unmatched by any first-time White House candidate. Obama’s millionth donor in his 2008 campaign came on Feb. 27 of that election year. (In the next election cycle, the incumbent president’s re-election campaign hit the 1-million- donors mark on Oct. 17, 2011.)

https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-smashes-record-donations/

On top of that last quarter, Bernie raised 20 million in January of this year and three million dollars in one day Feb 1st having his best single day yet.