David Brooks seemed resigned
David Brooks & others on Chuck Todd’s Meet The Press panel seemed resigned on the success of Bernie Sanders message discipline & Clinton’s lack of a message. Brooks’ statement said it all.
“If I didn’t know anything about the race, until I saw these back to back interviews today,” David Brooks said. “I would think, well, Sanders really has honed his message and he has captured both authenticity and joy. And Hillary Clinton hasn’t honed her message. There is a lot of Chinese menu stuff, A. B. C. D. And so you can see why he is doing well. You’ve got to pick that message. Hone it. Deliver it. Velocity.”
Chuck Todd then came to Clinton’s defense. “Well, I think they have a message,” Todd said. “But they know it does not inspire voters. Experience counts.”
Of course experience counts. But so does judgement. Hillary Clinton’s judgement relative to foreign affairs and wars has never been stellar. Moreover she tends to exhibit neocon lite behavior. To be clear, it is nowhere close to the Right but more so than President Obama or Bernie Sanders.
Other panelists were also flabbergasted that Clinton was unable to articulate the most important issue that she will tackle in her potential presidency.
Chris Cillizza had the most prescient statement.
“It is remarkable when I was watching these interviews back to back,” said Cillizza. “It is remarkable that a, and I think you put really well, a seventy four year old, former mayor of Burlington Vermont, an avowed socialist who on your show refused months ago to say I am not a socialist, he is the change and future candidate. … The way that she has found herself in this race is deja vu all over again. Her only benefit is that Bernie Sanders does not equal Barack Obama in that Bernie Sanders at least yet doesn’t have the support in the black community any where near Barack Obama.”
If and when people start realizing that the democratic socialist moniker represents the policies that have been successful in other democracies where people are more happy and satisfied, Bernie Sanders popularity will likely be meteoric. People want his policies.
Sanders support free college tuition. That is not far fetch. Just like secondary education became standard so can college in the new economy. Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Scotland, Turkey, among others have free tuition for their citizens.
Sanders supports mandated paid family leave. The U.S. is the only one that doesn’t mandate paid maternity leave.
Sanders supports universal health care (Medicare-for-all / Single-payer). America and Mexico are the only 2 industrialized countries without universal health care.
Unlike what many would want us all to believe, the policies Bernie Sanders stand for, democratic socialism, is not pie in the sky. He support policies Americans want and policies that are successful throughout the democratic industrial world.