In yesterday’s diary, I attracted an unwanted reaction by using the word “demagogue” to describe Bernie Sanders. I intended it in way free of negative connotations, but I recognize that provoked a bad reaction (other than from the instinctive and vituperative rejection from those who attack anything anti-Bernie) up-front.
Problem is, I can’t find a more accurate word for someone who ties his rhetoric to the word “revolution”. The later attempt to edit the diary with “iconoclast” implies a speaker who only tears down without inspiring good. But when thinking through people who influenced a nation without coming to highest office - Seneca, Sam Adams (surely a demagogue), Trotsky, Martin Luther King – I’ll try the even more bland “orator”.
So I’ll return to my two related points. I don’t support Bernie Sanders in the primary because I think he does not have the temperament or the breadth to be chief executive. Elections have consequences and one consequence is that you have to serve in the office to which you were elected (Hi, Ms Palin). I know others disagree on my assessment of his abilities and talents. But Let Me Be Perfectly Clear. If Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee, I will unreservedly support him and vote for him. I’ve made that pledge in at least one comment, but unaccountably didn’t transfer it from my mental version of the diary to the text itself.
But, whoever wins, my question is what we have to do next. I support Bernie’s goals. All of them. My caution was interpreted as a smug “we boomers had it all, and you can’t”, which is the reverse of what I wrote. He has, however, set high expectations in the form of a 2017 domestic agenda, and the party now has to be seen to deliver. It should be clear that we won’t achieve universal health care, affordable tuition, campaign finance reform, and a politically neutered Wall Street, in two years. Disappointment in 2018 is the glaring danger. A repeat of 2010, and we have yet more gerrymandered districts post-2020 and an even more out-of-reach path to delivery.
There has to be a clear mission statement, and clear, reportable progress on the path within 18 months, whoever wins the Presidency. If it’s Hillary, she has to consider Bernie’s call to action as her commitment. But it’s a huge lift. I well remember at the end of 1992 we were all convinced that universal health care was inevitable. There was a detailed, economically feasible plan. Bill Clinton dramatized it with a sample universal insurance card. Came 1994, and it all blew away.
Thanks to Bernie, expectations among the younger cohort are high and intense. How do we keep the newly enthused young voters on track through the inevitable hard slog? How do we start winning back states in 2018 and beyond? That’s the core of my worry. Bernie has offered much, and it’s being interpreted as a promise. I want a President who can start to turn the gears of government, who can be a decisive executive, and I don’t think it’s him. He is our revolution’s Samuel Adams. Now we need a John. I can hear the scoffing from here, and I understand Hillary’s limitations. Bernie has the advantage, of course, of being the personification of his own ideals. But I don’t think we have a candidate who is more likely to drive an organization to action than the only alternative we have now.