BEGUN, THE DEMOCRATIC WARS HAVE: Hillary vs. Bernie vs. Obama
This is pretty brutal stuff, and it shows the difference between Hillary and Bernie: she thinks pragmatically, while he thinks idealistically. That means she captures the vote of “moderates” who just want bigger government than Republicans are willing to grant, but loses the younger crowd that has a hard-core ideological vision of fundamental change to the country.
Then there’s the third wing of the party: the Obama wing. This wing of the party isn’t ideologically or pragmatically driven by policy concerns; it’s more driven by a deep and abiding belief that the Obama voting coalition must be duplicated and expanded. This means doubling down on identity politics.
Over the weekend, news broke that the Obama team was looking for a candidate to support in 2020. They aren’t fully behind the Sanders wing of the party — they’re not willing to lend their support to Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) or Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), for example. And they aren’t behind the Hillary wing of the party, either — they’re not ready to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s obviously itching to take on Trump. No, they’re looking seriously at former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, from whom Obama originally stole his “just words” routine in 2008. Patrick’s chief recommendation to Obama is his race (he’s black), but his policies look more like Hillary’s than Bernie’s.
This is pretty brutal stuff, and it shows the difference between Hillary and Bernie: she thinks pragmatically, while he thinks idealistically. That means she captures the vote of “moderates” who just want bigger government than Republicans are willing to grant, but loses the younger crowd that has a hard-core ideological vision of fundamental change to the country.
Then there’s the third wing of the party: the Obama wing. This wing of the party isn’t ideologically or pragmatically driven by policy concerns; it’s more driven by a deep and abiding belief that the Obama voting coalition must be duplicated and expanded. This means doubling down on identity politics.
Over the weekend, news broke that the Obama team was looking for a candidate to support in 2020. They aren’t fully behind the Sanders wing of the party — they’re not willing to lend their support to Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) or Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), for example. And they aren’t behind the Hillary wing of the party, either — they’re not ready to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s obviously itching to take on Trump. No, they’re looking seriously at former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, from whom Obama originally stole his “just words” routine in 2008. Patrick’s chief recommendation to Obama is his race (he’s black), but his policies look more like Hillary’s than Bernie’s.
