The reasons why we should want Bernie Sanders as our president are innumerable, including his knack for identifying the most important issues of our time, coming up with innovative solutions, including how to pay for them, & being as honest & straightforward as any presidential candidate we’ve ever witnessed, & I & many others here have already listed many of the specific reasons why he’s the best candidate there.
But I will focus on strategy, hopefully bringing up a few things that have slipped under the radar.
Bernie is outpolling Hillary in virtually every face to face pairing with a Republican, with a double digit lead over the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, which has been growing. I see no reason why that lead should decrease. People already know Trump (like Hillary) very well, & a large percentage of our electorate (including Republicans) will not vote for him no matter what (the same for Hillary), & that’s not likely to change much, whereas the more people learn about Bernie, the more they tend to like him. Sure, the Republicans would throw as much mud as possible against Bernie (& constantly harp on his socialist identification & advanced age), but it won’t stick this election. A number of people who like Trump best like Sanders 2nd best, & Bernie should be able to turn many of them in his favor or at least make them conflicted enough not to vote for either. I would imagine the vast majority of Hillary supporters, many of whom say they actually like Sanders’ policies better but for 1 reason or another [(mis)perceived electability, executive experience, leadership, age, relative position on the political spectrum (there’s an automatic kneejerk dismissal of anybody at all left of a barely left of center position)] they’ve decided to support Clinton, would vote for Sanders if he did win the nomination, & in fact at a certain point in the nomination process (such as if he won Iowa, New Hampshire & Nevada or at least 2 of the 3) might even be finally convinced that Sanders is electable & vote for him. This is also a year when the usual advantages – big money donations, endorsements, television ads, PACs – have had little impact. I have come across many Republicans who have expressed a preference of Sanders over any Republican candidate (or a tossup between Sanders & Trump or Rand Paul), who would “never in a million years” vote for Hillary. Also independents & 3rd party members are more likely to vote for Bernie than for Hillary or anybody on the Republican side with the possible exception of Trump. Furthermore, there will be lots of people who normally fall out of the political process, who would feel inspired to vote for Bernie, whereas many of these people would just as soon stay at home than vote for Hillary over a Republican, or who might even be motivated to vote for Trump, if that is the Republican nominee, over Clinton in their thirst for something radically different from the largely failed political path taken over the last 3 to 4 decades.
I think there are still 7 Republicans running with at least outside chances of winning the nomination. We’ve already discussed & dismissed Trump in a contest against Bernie. The person in the next best position to take the Republican nomination is Ted Cruz. He is slick, very well-organized, has huge amounts of cash from conservative millionaires & billionaires (& what is it? 4 PACs?), & he is even an accomplished debater, considered 1 of the best. But he has a few flaws, one important one being 1 of the least likable presidential candidates in history. That doesn’t preclude him from winning a nomination – we’ve had difficult to like nominees before, like Romney & Dukakis, for example – but rarely has a very unlikable nominee won (Nixon?), & that is even more unlikely in today’s highly visual environment. He is also probably the farthest from center major party candidate ever, exceeding even Goldwater & rivaling 1980 Libertarian candidate David Koch, which makes for a nice contrast against Sanders, & revealing the latter to be much closer to the political center & to where the nation stands (1 reason why the socialist attribute is a fairly moot point).
Rubio polls better than almost any other Republican against Democrats, but I don’t see him inspiring enough people to come out & vote for him over Bernie in this hugely anti-establishment, anti-corporatist election (but he could pose quite a formidable challenge to Clinton), & that goes for the other establishment candidates: Bush, Christie & Kasich, each of which have their own particular problems – Jeb being part of the discredited Bush family & brother of the worst president in American history; Christie being associated with Bridgegate, corruption & bullying, although he is 1 of the most effective speakers on the Republican side & known for tough talk a la Trump; & Kasich drawing too little enthusiasm among the anti-establishment Republican electorate to have any reasonable chance of winning the nomination this year. With Ben Carson’s always implausible chances becoming even more remote with his sliding poll numbers, he would however pose an interesting alternative to any candidate on the other side, but he’d likely be wiped out in debates with either Clinton or Sanders (due to his relative lack of knowledge about political affairs), & doesn’t seem to have enough establishment support (big money) to make it, although like Sanders, his grassroots support is impressive.
I’m surprised about Rand Paul’s inability to take off in this election. It was thought that he would more or less take over the mantle & following of his father 4 years ago, which would likely be even broader this time, considering today’s wide anti-establishment feeling, strengthening libertarian advocacy within the Republican Party, & the until recently increasing public sentiment against foreign entanglements, but his campaign was quickly overshadowed by Trump, whose candidacy has probably hurt Paul more than anybody else (although Jeb & Christie have also suffered significantly). However, there are still people who steadfastly stand by Paul & no other Republican, & he stands to gain considerable ground should Trump fall, although time is running out for him. I don’t see how he could stand up against Bernie in a general election, because where they differ, Bernie generally has the more popular stance on the issues, but he would look formidable against Hillary, gaining the vast majority of Republican votes, a considerable portion of Independent votes, & a significant number of Bernie supporters disgusted with the corporate & militaristic DNC, DWS & HRC.
One more thing… Hillary’s ties to Obama will make it very difficult for her to gain the support of people dissatisfied by Obama. Now I happen to think that overall, considering the huge challenges & overwhelming obstacles he’s faced, Obama has done a remarkable job, & it is up to the Democratic nominee to make that widely known. However, for people who preferred what they heard during his campaigns of hope & change over what actually transpired, or who think that he went in the proper direction but not far enough, or think his administration was a good start but not nearly enough, or like some of what he did but not other things, or was particularly disappointed by his frequent deference to corporate interests or equivocation in regards to the environment & climate change, Bernie offers them a better alternative – a needed boost in the direction where Obama has been pointing.
So the trick is to make sure that Bernie wins the nomination so that the Democrats have the strongest (& best) candidate possible going against the Republicans, & have the greatest likelihood of a landslide that will bring more Democrats, especially progressive ones, into office, including perhaps enough to take back the House as well as Senate.
This is a once in a generation (if that often) opportunity to vote for someone who can truly be transformative in all the right ways, so let’s not blow it!