Did Matthew Dowd hits the nail on the head?
Matthew Dowd’s analysis may get a lot of pushback from the establishment, but the dynamics of the race is anything but the status quo at this point in time. Katrina Vanden Heuvel also points out that Bernie Sanders has already won in moving the party closer to where Americans really are. The following excerpts from the show are probative.
George Stephanopoulos: Matthew Dowd, of the last campaign, clearly in Iowa this time around, much more organized than in 2008. [Speaking about Hillary Clinton’s campaign]
Matthew Dowd: Well, she’s — absolutely. She saw that loss, it all caught up to her in a surprise at the end of what President Obama had done in the course of that campaign. But I still think Hillary Clinton is a status quo politician in the course of this. And I — that’s why I actually think Bernie Sanders may be a stronger general election candidate than Hillary Clinton because I think Hillary Clinton, her campaign, just like Jeb Bush’s campaign, who is not doing well, as we know, at all, but she still hasn’t let go of that status quo, I’m going to do everything I can and not say anything that’s going to offend anybody, not a time when people want passion. They want a sense of what’s the mission and they want aspiration. Bernie Sanders right now is the only one on the Democratic side that is aspirational and Donald Trump right now is the only one on the Republican side that basically says I’ll take on anybody. …
Katrina Vanden Heuvel: The nation is not a monolith. We did endorse Bernie Sanders. But there are people at “The Nation” who support Hillary Clinton. She has responded to the populist temper of the times. Bernie Sanders, in some ways, has already won. He has forced issues onto the agenda of this debate that might not otherwise have been there. And Hillary Clinton has responded. She’s been a great defender of women’s rights. And she’s moved. But I do think we need to step back. Bernie Sanders, all the policing I’ve seen by liberal commentators in these last week or two about how he is not electable, I think Matthew Dowd just put that to rest. But I also think we need to step back — this is a country of look at your party. The Republican Party, American majority, the Republican Party is engaged in a suicide pact with its own party because if it does reach out to the rising American majority of Latinos, of young people, of young women, it’s going to –.
Over the last few weeks many liberal writers almost in sync were attempting to change the narrative. In one voice, the beloved Paul Krugman and Jonathan Chait among others are attempting to dampen the democratic process by using their platform to speak out against Bernie Sander’s viability. Nobody really knows. We are in turbulent waters and Americans are anxious. Let the democratic process work.