A Sanders supporter on Netroots Nation
The Sanders supporter is the author of the article.
I'm leading with this sentence because it struck me as the most powerful point.
While I myself am not a Sanders supporter, as a Democrat I believe we all have an interest in listening to and understanding concerns of broad-based constituencies. A strong Sanders candidacy can be good for the party and the country, but it is up to Sanders supporters to make it strong, to use it to expand the political dialog rather than narrow it.
I approach this incident as a fan of Bernie Sanders. But when he had the opportunity to rewrite his own narrative and broaden his own base, he failed.
The last few weeks have been good for Sanders—big crowds, solid fundraising numbers. His candidacy has already made an impact on the race and, presumably, on Hillary Clinton. It was exciting: He was speaking the truth about inequality and Wall Street, as he always had, and his numbers were climbing toward 20 percent nationally and within striking distance in New Hampshire and Iowa.
But anyone paying attention also knows that there has been a thread of doubt in his rise: Could Sanders ever make headway beyond Iowa and New Hampshire? Does he have what it takes to capture the hearts of black and brown voters who are such a significant part of the Democratic coalition?
With the protest, Sanders was presented an opportunity on a silver platter: He could overcome his perceived negatives and grow his base. All he would have had to do was act with a little humility.
But instead, he talked over the protesters, got defensive about his racial-justice bona fides, and stuck to his script. Essentially, he appeared to be arguing that economics and class trump all. For an audience mourning the death of Sandra Bland, a woman who was arrested at a traffic stop on the way to her new job before mysteriously dying in police custody, the jobs program Sanders suggested just didn’t seem like a sufficient answer. . . .
But there was also a tactical error—a mistake in the basic craft of politics: the failure to read the room. It was hard to watch him refuse to respond to people shouting and calling out for their lives. (When Vice President Joe Biden was interrupted by pro-immigration protesters at the prior Netroots Nation, he paused, applauded them, and answered their concerns.) It was a remarkable display of cognitive dissonance when Sanders said the country needed a democratic revolution, as he looked out at one staring him in the face and ignored it
http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-blew-a-huge-opportunity-at-netroots-nation/
I have issues with Sanders use of the word revolution to discuss his candidacy for president, but it is particularly ironic in the face of the closest thing we have to revolution in this country at the movement, Black Lives Matters. It is not a Koch brothers plot or Clintonian conspiracy. BLM is not enamored of Clinton. #earnthisdamnvoteorlose shows that African Americans are demanding ALL the candidates, including Clinton, earn their votes. The one who will be most successful will be the one who takes that call seriously. You want to argue that Sanders doesn't have to, he will lose and in the process you do great discredit to white progressivism. None of us benefit from that.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Not just for the site name, but your posts.
Last edited Thu Jul 23, 2015, 05:18 PM - Edit history (2)
That link made a tremendously important point. BLM has a major case to make. And we all better pay attention to it, especially those of us who've neglected or haven't been keeping track.
I cannot imagine, for the life of me, what it's like for ANY black woman who's a mother. I cannot imagine, as a white woman, what it's like to kiss your kid goodbye every morning (for school or job or whatever) and worry, all day, about whether he's gonna come home safely that night. To LIVE with that, every day and every night and every moment until that kid comes back through the front door again, walking in on his own two feet. Or, since Sandra Bland, to worry about whether her DAUGHTER is gonna come home safely that night, too. It's not just about her SON's life and safety and survival anymore. It's a nightmare beyond imagining.
But EVERY black mother lives that gnawing agony, every day. THAT, to me, is what the BLM movement means. It's just that basic.
Editing to add photo. This PHOTO is what BlackLivesMatter means to me. More women mourning. More MOTHERS mourning. More needless senseless loss. And forever-heartbreak. And it happens in the black community FAR, FAR, FAR more than in any other community.
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Senator Sanders meets US Capitol and federal contract workers at the Rally yesterday on Capitol Hill to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, $15. The majority of the employees are minority, black and Latino employees.
Many people who walked down Constitution Ave. to Rally at the US Capitol building work there, cooking and serving meals to Congressmen and Senators for $10.10 an hour. Others are clerks, cashiers, cleaners ad landscapers for govt. offices and buildings yet since they cannot make ends meet many have to take a second job, the case all over the US, the wealthiest country in world history.
Martin O'Malley supports a living wage of $15. Hillary Clinton hasn't committed to an increase to $15 because there are different economic environments, and what happens in L.A. and New York may not be suitable for other places she told Buzz feed News last week. Then there's Scott Walker who has removed the term 'living wage' from the state budget of Wisconsin.
