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| SANDERS: The next Obama? Or Bill Richardson? |
Which
is probably why there are some Democrats who are eager to find someone else, anybody
else, to nominate for the 2016 election cycle.
IT
SEEMS SIMILAR to 2008, when the then-former first lady and senator from New
York tried running for president by creating the sense of inevitability. She
was going to happen. Resisting was a waste of time.
Except
that we got the whole Barack Obama phenomenon and a long, drawn-out primary
that resulted in Hillary having to settle for Secretary of State (which
actually was the best move in that it gave her a legitimate legacy of her own).
This
time, Clinton is once again pushing that sense of inevitability – to the point
where people are pushing the theme of the general election being between
Clinton and whichever of the 15-or-so nitwits running on the Republican side
manages to get that nomination.
But
then we’re getting Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont who has put himself
into the mix for the Democratic Party nomination – even though he’s technically
NOT a Democrat.
SANDERS,
FOR THOSE who haven’t paid much attention, is the guy who actually ran
initially as a socialist. Although he now goes out of his way to declare
himself to be a political independent – even though he usually falls into the
Democratic caucus for practicality’s sake.
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| CLINTON: Is it finally her turn? Will it ever be? |
I’m
sure there are those people who are now thinking to themselves, “There’s no way
this country elects a socialist as president.”
Then
again, I’m sure they were arguing seven years ago that, “There’s no way this
country elects a black man as president.” Besides, there are those people who
like to use the “independent” label politically that they may give Bernie a
second glance.
The
times (to quote Bob Dylan), they are a changin’. Just look at last week, where
the people who rant about the merits of the Confederate battle flag got reduced
publicly to the level of the crackpots that many of us always knew they were.
POLLS
SHOW THAT Sanders may not totally get his butt whomped against Clinton. A poll
by WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., had Clinton leading Sanders by 8 percentage
points. Also, it had 45 percent of those surveyed saying Sanders “cares the
most about people like you,” compared to 24 percent who thinks Hillary is more
like them.
 |
| WALKER: His turf's being invaded Wednesday |
Of
course, you can argue that with Sanders being from New Hampshire’s neighboring
state, he ought to be competitive against Hillary.
Similar
to how back in 2008, the campaign started up with an Obama victory over Clinton
in the Iowa caucus in large part because Iowans had heard of the senator from
neighboring Illinois.
Perhaps
he ought to be running neck and neck with Clinton. Then again, there is still
eight months before people have to start actually casting ballots. Who knows
who will change their minds between now and then? Voters can be so fickle!
SO
WHAT SHOULD we think of Sanders – who on Wednesday will be the focus of a rally
in Madison, Wis., where he’ll also be able to get on the nerves of Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker – who on Tuesday put out his latest fundraising plea for his
own presidential fantasies. Sanders won’t be alone.
There
will be members of the Chicago Southland for Bernie Sanders on hand, people
from those Far South Side neighborhoods and surrounding suburban communities
who will deem it worthy of their time to get on a bus bound for Wisconsin.
They’re
even talking about sending people to Iowa to do the legwork of campaigning for
Sanders. Who does have a gap to fill – one national voter poll had 59 percent
backing Clinton to 15 percent for Sanders.
Then
again, I recall back in ’07 when Obama’s name recognition nationally was nil (“Wasn’t
he the guy who gave a speech at the Democratic Convention?,” was probably the
way most people thought of him). That’s probably the same fantasy the Sanders
backers are having now.
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