I think Hillary has made a pretty good point about the fact that if Bernie doesn’t think that she reaches the bar for being progressive then by his own standard neither does President Obama.
Bernie has been asked whether or not he thinks Obama is a progressive and he has not really answered. He has dodged by saying positive things about Obama, but not actually answering the question.
His campaign has done the same thing. His manager does the same thing, saying positive things about Obama. And when pressed, simply argues that they aren’t running against Obama. As if that answers the question.
I can’t read Bernie’s mind (or his campaign’s) but my best personal guess for why they won’t answer is that they know that if they say that Obama is not a progressive (by the same standard Hillary isn’t) that they will simply deflate their argument that Hillary isn’t, because Obama is wildly popular with Democrats. If Obama doesn’t even meet the standard that Bernie sets then does it even matter that Hillary doesn’t?
That’s my best guess. Again. I don’t know for sure. I can’t read their minds.
But I can’t think of any other reason. Can you?
And if this IS the reason… well… isn’t Bernie just refusing to admit that half of what he argues makes him a substantially better candidate than Hillary doesn’t really matter to most Democratic party voters?
The other half being that he attracts more independents. An argument I give him some credit for, since he does attract independent progressives. I think that whether or not he actually attracts independent moderates and conservatives enough to vote for him is yet to be seen.
I don’t know. What do you think? Why won’t Bernie or his campaign say whether he thinks Obama is a progressive?
By the way, the picture above is Bernie standing proudly beside Obama as he signs Bernie’s VA Reform bill back in 2014.
Thursday, Feb 4, 2016 · 8:43:04 PM +00:00 · AntonBursch
If Bernie is going to make the argument that Hillary is not a progressive by his standard, then I personally think that he invites the questions: what is his standard? who meets his standard?
I think Hillary has every right to defend herself from Bernie’s judgment by arguing that by his judgement Obama is not a progressive either.
Personally, I think that Hillary is far more like Obama than Bernie, so, if Bernie is going to draw a line in the sand about whether or not you are a progressive, then i think it’s fair to ask Bernie which side of that line Obama stands on in his judgement. So people know which line they want to stand on when they vote.