I don't hate Bernie Sanders. He is principled and consistent, and he has been on the right side of history on some pretty important shit, often ahead of his time.
But as a Presidential candidate, with his far left positions, eccentric hands, and unkempt hair? Of the democratic party, which he has never been a member of until he announced his candidacy to lead it?
He now says Hillary Clinton - the most accomplished, prepared, and competent woman leader in America - is "unqualified" to be president. That he would go that far against such a champion of the progressive cause - who has received more than 2 million more votes than him in the primaries - has the ironic effect of calling his own qualifications and judgment into question.
This is a man who unconscionably voted against the bailout of 2008 - you may remember this as the thing that saved our economy from depression, prevented literally millions of jobs from being lost in every industry (including the "evil" banking sector that, ya know, every family in America relies on and that built and sustains America), and that ultimately made the government money on interest payments from the beneficiaries. It's made worse still by his motivations - he voted against it because he wanted to send a passive-aggressive, half-baked message to rich people - they broke America so they should somehow pay out of pocket or their companies should go down, never mind our national interest stake in the reality that our entire economy rested on their shoulders.
This is a man who thinks every trade agreement we've negotiated in the past 30 years should be revoked. Because we're losing so many jobs to China, as everyone knows. Except we don't have a trade agreement with China. I wonder how he would explain that. And then there's the fact that trade agreements help level the playing field for American workers and improve lives for millions of people by requiring our partners to raise their labor and environmental standards to meet the agreement, and opens markets for American companies and American made goods, and builds essential relationships with our neighbors and strengthens our alliances around the world.
This is a man who wants to repeal and replace Obamacare with an unprecedentedly massive expansion of the size and scope of government - not quite in line with the mood of the party, let alone the country. On the heels of the contentious, all-consuming health care battle President Obama and progressives in Congress have successfully waged these last 7 years - to great impact in real people's lives - it takes nothing short of willful obliviousness to make such an infuriatingly naive proposal. Democrats have learned time and again, including during the last health care fight in the early 90s, that waging impossible battles is not without consequence - it consumes political capital that could be used to actually accomplish something, it postpones progress instead of advancing it, it costs democrats seats in Congress that would otherwise belong to moderates who would help move us forward on the big issues.
This is a man who says the business model of Wall Street is "fraud," bases his entire campaign around reigning in Wall Street, and then proves he has very little idea what he's actually talking about - because his proposals are empty, his rhetoric is absurd, and his assertions are wrong, and when asked specifics, he has none. What authorities does our government have to split the banks? He doesn't know. How would he do it? He says he has no idea. He has spoken in generalities about this his entire career, his anger at the wealthy and the bankers subverting any real substantive conversation.
This is a man who demonizes the rich, he speaks about the wealthy with nothing but disdain. It reminds me of Cruz demonizing teachers or Trump going after Muslims. Oversimplifying a problem, pointing the finger at a stereotyped scapegoat, and hacking an un-thought out solution couched in angry, overstated rhetoric. Yes, we should raise the top tax rates on the wealthiest folks, no, they are not all white collar criminals or assholes trying to cheat and defraud their way to the top. "The greed of the billionaire class and corporate America is destroying this great country." Actual quote. That is such utter nonsense, it's such abuse of reality, it's so insulting to the businesses that in fact employ millions and make our country great, it's so twisting of the incredible legacy of capitalism in our country - it's just empty, populist demagoguery.
This is a man who thinks the democratic party is a party of sell outs. Forget the immense progress we have made over decades, let alone these last 7 years under Obama - he has written off every champion in Congress who has fought for health care for the poor, tax fairness, food stamps, unemployment insurance, minimum wage increases, renewable energy investments, the list goes on, because they received campaign donations from rich people, or people who work on Wall Street, or people who work in the fossil fuel industry (another major industry that powers America and employs literally tens of thousands of people that he has completely vilified and written off). Of course, he has the biggest PAC of all helping him out this election cycle - the PACs of every Republican who have wasted little time and many resources blasting Hillary Clinton and promoting Sanders (because he would be a terrible candidate, which is good for Republicans).
And along those lines, and perhaps most damaging, to my mind, this is a man who is the Ted Cruz of the left - a naive purist who condemns any politician who doesn't promote the most extreme position, insults his own party (like President Obama) for daring to compromise to accomplish progress instead of holding out for some ideal at the country's expense, and shouts self righteous indignation at a party and at people who have done so much good for this country. He will, just like Cruz, divide his party by promising unrealistic policies and shooting down any politician who dares to be pragmatic, or patient, or responsive to more conservative minded constituents and to build progress strategically instead of demanding everything all at once and expecting results. That's not how democracy works, that's not how a political party survives and actually accomplishes positive things for real people, and it's not reflective of his country.
Sanders is a good man, with good intentions. But he is no President, he is no nominee of the great democratic party, and in a battle of ideologies between the ultimate whack-job capitalist vs an angry socialist, with immense amounts of money thrown around to expose and destroy each other, I don't want to find out where America would ultimately side... particularly when there's the chance to make history and send a message to girls in America and oppressed women around the world with a supremely qualified, progressive fighter named Hillary.
