Bernie Sanders is not only back, he has the best shot at the nomination right now

By James Pindell Globe Staff, December 13, 2019, 2:58 p.m.

[full article here]


IMAGE CREDIT: KRYSTAL RAMIREZ/LAS VEGAS SUN VIA AP

Two months ago, it didn’t look good for Bernie Sanders or his presidential campaign. He was at a Las Vegas-area hospital recovering from a heart attack. Polls in Iowa and New Hampshire showed him way back in third place among Democrats. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren, his rival for the progressive wing for the Democratic presidential electorate, was surging and, at the time, was leading the race.

To some, it felt like the beginning of the end of Sanders’ six-year-long White House effort. The health scare, after all, offered him a chance to bow out of the race, save face, and use his clout to further push the field to the left.

But the terrible, no good, very bad moment for Sanders ended up being just a blip.

With approximately 50 days before the Iowa caucuses, Sanders is not only back, but he has the cleanest shot at the 2020 Democratic nomination. (emphasis added)

December 12, 2019

He seems to have rebounded in recent weeks as he’s stuck to Medicare for All while other candidates have softened their stances and as he’s gained star endorsements from the younger faces in the movement.

National surveys released Tuesday by Quinnipiac and Monmouth show him slightly ahead -- but within the margin of error -- for second place among Democrats, behind Joe Biden.

And he’s going strong in the early nominating states. Recent polls place him second in Iowa — where he’s returning for several events this weekend — and statistically tied for the lead in New Hampshire and second in Nevada. And he’s statistically tied with Warren for the lead in California, a Super Tuesday state that provides 10% of the delegates to the Democratic nominating convention.

Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor earned her PhD in African American Studies from Northwestern University. In her recent NY Times OpEd, she affirmed...

Don’t Think Sanders Can Win? You Don’t Understand His Campaign
There was a time in America when being called a socialist could end a political career. Not anymore.

By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

• Dr. Taylor is the author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.”

Dec. 10, 2019

[full OpEd here]

As the Democratic primary elections get closer, the party leadership has begun to fret in public about universal health care and other ambitious proposals. Even former President Barack Obama tried to assuage donors’ fears in November when he said that the “average American” doesn’t think we need to “tear down the system and remake it.” His comment captured the essence of tensions that have roiled the party for months. Party elites believe focusing squarely on President Trump’s record will end his presidency, while others counter that the Democrats also have to champion bold policies.

The surprising resilience of the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont vindicates the latter approach. Mr. Sanders’s improbable rise to Democratic front-runner began in 2015 when he organized his campaign for president around a redistributive agenda of universal health care and free college, along with a number of other progressive reforms. Party insiders dismissed this as fanciful and out of touch, but Mr. Sanders aggressively challenged Hillary Clinton for the nomination while picking up 13 million votes.

Mr. Sanders has not diluted his message since then, but has instead recommitted to his promises of “big government” socialist reforms — all the while pulling other candidates to his side. Although Mr. Sanders grows in popularity, neither the Democratic Party establishment nor the mainstream media really understand his campaign. That’s because it disregards conventional wisdom in politics today — tax cuts for the elite and corporations and public-private partnerships to finance health care, education, housing and other public services.

After months of predictions of its premature end, Bernie Sanders’s improbable run continues its forward movement. In October, pundits and other election experts suggested that perhaps Mr. Sanders should leave the race and throw his support to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, in the wake of her rising poll numbers and his heart attack. But doubts quickly gave way to excitement when Mr. Sanders captured the coveted endorsement of Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. She was soon joined by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

Don’t Think Sanders Can Win? You Don’t Understand His Campaign
There was a time in America when being called a socialist could end a political career. Not anymore.

By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

• Dr. Taylor is the author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.”

Dec. 10, 2019

[full OpEd here]

As the Democratic primary elections get closer, the party leadership has begun to fret in public about universal health care and other ambitious proposals. Even former President Barack Obama tried to assuage donors’ fears in November when he said that the “average American” doesn’t think we need to “tear down the system and remake it.” His comment captured the essence of tensions that have roiled the party for months. Party elites believe focusing squarely on President Trump’s record will end his presidency, while others counter that the Democrats also have to champion bold policies.

The surprising resilience of the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont vindicates the latter approach. Mr. Sanders’s improbable rise to Democratic front-runner began in 2015 when he organized his campaign for president around a redistributive agenda of universal health care and free college, along with a number of other progressive reforms. Party insiders dismissed this as fanciful and out of touch, but Mr. Sanders aggressively challenged Hillary Clinton for the nomination while picking up 13 million votes.

Mr. Sanders has not diluted his message since then, but has instead recommitted to his promises of “big government” socialist reforms — all the while pulling other candidates to his side. Although Mr. Sanders grows in popularity, neither the Democratic Party establishment nor the mainstream media really understand his campaign. That’s because it disregards conventional wisdom in politics today — tax cuts for the elite and corporations and public-private partnerships to finance health care, education, housing and other public services.

After months of predictions of its premature end, Bernie Sanders’s improbable run continues its forward movement. In October, pundits and other election experts suggested that perhaps Mr. Sanders should leave the race and throw his support to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, in the wake of her rising poll numbers and his heart attack. But doubts quickly gave way to excitement when Mr. Sanders captured the coveted endorsement of Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. She was soon joined by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

Winning Medicare for All Will Require Taking On Powerful Interests. Here’s How We Overcame One.


The American Medical Association’s decision to leave an industry-backed, anti-single payer group didn’t happen on its own. It was the result of dedicated organizing to make healthcare a human right.

BY CONNIE HUYNH
November 25, 2019

• [Full Text At Link]

The path to winning Medicare Care for All will be a case study of establishment forces doing all they can to detract, block and stave off progress.

With so many entities that profit immensely from our broken healthcare system, we will have to remove countless barriers along the way. The American Medical Association (AMA), a highly influential player in this debate, made a major move in August when it backed out of the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future (PAHCF), the lead industry group created to ensure Medicare for All does not become a reality.

As the movement toward Medicare for All gains steam, with presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren touting the proposal on the campaign trail, the mounting threat to insurance companies and Big Pharma is becoming more and more clear. The end of private insurance, or at least most forms of it, stands as an existential threat to the future of these obscenely profitable corporations.

They should be scared. Close to a majority of Democrats in the U.S. House are now co-sponsoring Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All bill. Healthcare has become a dominant issue in the 2020 Democratic primary. Medicare is one of the most popular programs in American history, and at a time when good jobs with guaranteed healthcare are hard to find, it makes sense that Americans want to expand it.