This past weekend, the self-described newspaper "of record" decided that Bernie Sanders might possibly be a "credible challenge" to Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses.
We've all become so accustomed to stage driven, focus group candidates that authenticity comes across as lunacy. Then there's Bernie, who honestly represents his political beliefs rather than playing a cynical political game.
As the Vermont liberal spreads his income equality campaign message, the press corps seems unsure of how to cover him. In the month since he announced his bid, Sanders' coverage seems to pale in comparison to comparable Republican candidates who face an arduous task of obtaining their party's nomination. The reluctance is ironic. The press for months called for a challenger to Hillary Clinton. Now she has one and the press can barely feign interest?
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Bernie Sanders has a long record of supporting pro-worker policies. Vermont union members learned long ago that the mutual benefit derived from their work with and for Sanders goes far beyond the results of labor’s usual (and sometimes tawdry) transactional relationships with public officeholders.
"Don't underestimate me," says the independent who has entered to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. "We're going to do better than people think. And I think we got a shot to win this thing."
The fundamental problem with both the “not now, maybe later” and the “not on your life” rejections of electoral politics is their small mindedness, their view that political activity is a zero sum game where a Sanders candidacy inevitably diminishes some other truly valuable activities because there are only a limited number of potential activists out there.
The left isn't important because of its numbers. It's important because its members are the canaries in the coalmine for an unresponsive political process. The left shares something else with that majority: it's heard a lot of empty promises. Many (though not all) progressives will vote for the Democrats once again in 2016, even if they're dissatisfied. But it will take more than rhetoric to win millions of other alienated voters. It will take commitment - and action.
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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders joins Thom Hartmann for their weekly town hall meeting, Brunch with Bernie, and says he's proud to be called a Democratic Socialist.
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