Yes, I know that headline will unleash fury in some quarters, but hear me out.
We can all agree about the importance of the 2016 election for the future of our country. While President Obama has accomplished a lot despite unprecedented obstructionism, there is still a huge amount of inequality and challenges the next President must face. We are one Supreme Court justice away from either tipping the court to our side or seeing Roe vs. Wade overturned and a conservative corporate agenda solidified for generations to come.
If the last 7 years have taught us anything, it’s that the only way to fix our country is to get Republicans out of power. The GOP has lost any pretense of wanting what’s best for America and has instead stood behind a platform of racism, xenophobia and Ayn Rand-inspired self-interest and greed. They have no ethics, no integrity and no ability to govern. They simply want power so they can dismantle everything that‘s right about our democracy and turn it over to private corporations. That is their agenda.
To hear a lot of Bernie supporters talk, though, the problem with our politics is not Republicans but Democrats. Our party is somehow “bought and paid” for by Wall Street. There’s a conspiracy in the party leadership to stamp out Bernie’s movement and install Hillary and her Corporate Overlords. Sorry, but that is pure nonsense.
To say that the Democratic Party is bought and paid for in the same way as the Republican Party is does not hold up to scrutiny. It’s a false equivalency. The fact is if you look at key votes over the past 7 years, Democrats have been remarkably united in voting to raise the minimum wage, extend unemployment benefits, invest in infrastructure, reign in the banks, and all sorts of other progressive things Obama has put forward. Why were most of these things defeated? Republicans. Sure there are a couple “moderate” Democrats who ditched the progressive agenda on certain votes, but for the most part our party does the right thing most of the time.
And the idea that because Hillary gets money from Wall Street she’s somehow a Republican in disguise is just not accurate. Her website states:
Hillary will defend the Wall Street reforms put in place after the financial crisis—and she’ll go further. She’ll tackle dangerous risks in the financial sector, and she’ll appoint and empower tough, independent regulators and prosecute individuals and firms when they commit fraud or other criminal wrong-doing.
“Tough, independent regulators” is not the language of a Republican. Nor is “prosecute.” She may have taken some votes we don’t like in the past (the Iraq War being the most egregious), but she’s positioning herself as an Obama Democrat, not Bill Clinton a la 1992. Her voting record in Congress, with a few notable exceptions, is much more progressive than centrist. She said the Iraq vote was a mistake. That’s not something a Republican in Democratic disguise would ever say.
Bernie’s campaign has put forward the idea that the only way we can achieve progressive goals is by a grass-roots “revolution.” But the question I raise is this: why would a mass movement—marches, sit-ins what have you—have any impact on Republicans? Their positions are already completely out of step with the American mainstream but have they changed any of them because of public opinion? Nope. Look at the economic proposals of the Republican candidates for President—they’re all standard-issue supply side economic hogwash, which has been proven not to work again and again and the American people know it. But has the GOP changed its tune despite the economic disaster of George W. Bush’s presidency? No. Because they aren’t influenced by public opinion. They’re influenced by the corporate elites and racists who fund them. So how is Bernie’s revolution going to change anything?
What we need in 2016 is not a revolution but a Democratic wave. We need not only to retain the presidency, but to take back the Congress—and not just the Senate but the House too. And in order to do that we need a candidate like Obama who can simultaneously make history (as the first woman elected President) and build up and carry the Democratic Party at all levels. Bernie has caucused with Democrats but he is not a party builder. And we need a party builder or else we’ll be stuck with an obstructionist Congress that blocks everything we want to do.
Perhaps that’s why Hillary is doing so well with superdelegates—her fellow Democrats know she will be good for the party and will help them win their own races. Not because of some right-wing conspiracy but because they think she’s got the best shot to defeat Republicans up and down the ticket.
I have deep respect for Bernie Sanders. He’s run a brilliant campaign because he’s channeling the anger boiling in the progressive base. Every time I hear him speak I want to scream “hell, yeah!” But as much as I value his passion, I would much rather have him as Treasury Secretary in Hillary’s administration than at the top of the ticket in November. Here’s why. Think of how Wall Street would react if a newly elected Democratic Congress confirmed Bernie as our nation’s top economic official. We know he can’t be bought, and if Hillary says she wants tough and independent regulators for Wall Street, Bernie fits the bill in spades. Then he can have a direct impact on our economy to make it fairer for average Americans and reign in the kind of corporate excesses that led to the crash.
While I know she is not perfect, I truly believe Hillary Clinton is the best person to head the Democratic ticket because in order to achieve progress against GOP intransigence, we need another Barak Obama, someone who can work within the system to make real change. Hillary has done that. And Hillary has made a point of supporting and raising money for other Democrats because she knows the only way for her to be effective as President is to have a Democratic Congress. Bernie stands outside the Democratic Party—so if he’s the candidate how are we ever going to re-build the party enough to get Republicans out of power? President Bernie and a Republican Congress will be more of the same. But Bernie in a Democratic administration could make a real difference.