Why Bernie Lost Twice
I am going to explain why Bernie lost twice in both 2020 and 2016 I am going to include stuff that is his fault and stuff that is not his fault. I decided to write this article since it was Bernie Sanders birthday yesterday.
7. Being viewed as too far left.
The problem that Bernie has is that he is too far left in the American spectrum. He would be more centrist if he lived in Europe or Canada but in America, there is a political spectrum is further to the right then compared to the rest of the world so he is viewed as a communist in America by the right-wing.
It doesn’t help that he describes himself as a democratic socialist which reinforces people's view that he is far left. He is not a democratic socialist and his views are more like Social Democracy or similar to the SPD in Germany or the UK Labor Party than actually being a democratic socialist. Here is what the word means.
Socialism
noun
- a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Bernie simply calls for Single-Payer Healthcare, and a Green New Deal and Tuition-free college. He never advocating for nationalizing the means of production or distribution of all goods. If he was truly a socialist he would have supported nationalizing every industry in the US.
He should have used the term Social Democrat and portrayed himself as center-left on the political spectrum.
It also doesn’t help that he praised Fidel’s Castro education program. The mainstream media criticized him for that despite Obama doing praising Fidel Castro’s education program himself.
However, if you are often being accused of being far left don’t mention Castro, Lenin, Maduro, Mao, or Stalin because it would be taken out of context so just don’t mention them at all period.
6. Being Viewed as Unelectable
The polls showed that Biden has a better lead over Trump than Bernie did. Also what furthered damaged people's view that Russia was helping his campaign as reported by the Washington Post. Instead of excepting the polls and Washington Post's story as true he should have attacked the Washington Post story and accused them of trying to harm his campaign. He also should attack the authenticity of the polls and argued that Biden is the male version of Hillary Clinton and has supported the TPP, NAFTA, and cutting Social Security.
The issue of NAFTA cost Hillary the election because it outsourced jobs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Bernie should have argued he opposed the trade deals and he supported them and that his support of these deals costed Hillary and will cost Biden the election.
He also should have portrayed Biden as an unelectable Washington D.C insider and attacked his corruption with Ukraine. He also should have pointed out that the Washington Insiders were unelectable and he was the outsider who can beat Trump. Instead, he referred to Biden as his friend who can beat Trump.
5. Refusal to Attack His Opponents
If you running for President you have to attack your opponents if you can. I know many people will argue that attacking your opponents in a primary will harm them in general if they win the nomination but in 2008 Obama and Hillary viciously attacked each other and Obama went on to win the election.
If you are running in local elections or state legislature then it is not a good idea to attack your opponents but if you running for Senate, House, or President you have to attack your opponents it is essential.
Sanders simply didn’t attack his opponents at all and as a result allowed for Biden, Klobuchar, Buttigieg to rise in the polls. Warren attacked Buttigieg over the wine cave scandal and Biden, Klobuchar, Buttigieg attacks Bernie all the time yet he rarely ever fights back.
Trump's attacks were very effective and he never spent much time defending himself and when he is attacked goes on the offense. Bernie should have done that instead of referring to Biden as his friend who can beat Trump or I’m sick and tired of her damn emails in 2016.
He should have joined in on the Lock Her Up slogan that Trump came up in 2016. He also should have run ads against Biden in South Carolina, and Southern states to point out that he supported segregated buses in the 1970s and Bernie marched with Martin Luthor King to help win the black vote.
4. Failure for the Progressives to Consilidate Behind Bernie
After the South Carolina primary, Buttigieg and Klobuchar dropped out. Warren and Gabbard continued to remain despite having no chance of winning. If they dropped out and endorsed Bernie would have won Massachusetts and Maine. Gabbard’s and Warren's policies are similar to Bernie so their supporters would certainly back Bernie if they endorsed him.
If I was Bernie I would pick Tulsi Gabbard as VP because she is a healthy young woman who will be a good pick to balance out the old Bernie Sanders if he dies or is unable to complete his term due to cognitive issue. He should have then appointed Warren as Secretary of State the most important cabinet position ever in return for her dropping out.
I think Biden offered Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Warren cabinet positions in return for Buttigieg and Klobuchar dropping out and endorsing him and for Warren to stay in the race long enough to spoil Bernie some key states.
3. Mainstream Media.
The Mainstream media has never been kind to Bernie at all. They have viciously attacked him and Chris Wallace even compared Bernie’s win in Nevada to the Nazi’s victory over France in 1940.
In a Republican primary mainstream media hostility is no problem but the majority of the Democratic base trusts the media so having hostile media in a Democratic Primary is a problem. According to a Gallup Poll, 69% of Democrats trust the media compared to 36% of Independents and 15% of Republicans who trust the media.
That is a major problem if you are running in a Democratic primary. Bernie needed to attack the mainstream media credibility and reduced the Democratic base's trust in the mainstream media in order to win.
Trump called the media fake news and if Bernie was going to win he had to attack them. He should have pointed out that six megacorporations own 90% of all cable news.
2. Failure of Young Voters to Show Up
Young voters simply didn’t show up to vote in the Democratic primary to vote. This is why Bernie lost many states. Young Voters are more likely to vote for Bernie than Biden.
Older Voters are more reliable because they are retired and tend to be more financially well off and have no kids to raise than younger voters and have more time to vote than younger voters.
Younger Voters have to go to work and if they have college have to go to take care of their kids. That is why they did not show up for Bernie they were too busy with other stuff and don’t have time to wait in line for a polling station.
A solution to the problem is simply more all the primaries to a Saturday rather than a Tuesday
1. DNC
The DNC was biased against Bernie Sanders in both 2016 and 2020. The DNC helped Hillary in 2016 according to the Wikileaks emails by changing the Debate times to unusual times like when a football game is on to hide the debates. One debate was the day before Christmas Eve. They also closed polling stations early in key areas and purged 200,000 voter rolls in Brooklyn before the New York Primary. They also flipped party registrations in closed primaries to prevent people from voting.
Also, the DNC discussed changing rules in 2020 about the convention to stop Bernie from winning if there was a contested convention
Bernie also made it clear that he would endorse whoever is the Democratic nominee is no matter what. That is a terrible idea and instead, he should have threatened to run a third party or simply not endorse Biden or Hillary if he doesn’t support some of his policies and he should negotiate cabinet positions for Progressives in a Biden or Hillary administration. Similar to how a coalition government operates and negotiates.
However, he is so afraid of Trump and the Republicans he doesn’t have the spine or stomach to do so. That is what I would have done with Biden and Hillary if I was in Bernie’s position or simply called for March on Washington and have his supporters surround the White House and Capitol Building until Congress passes his policies.
I would have done the latter since Biden and Hillary will simply ignore the deal they had with Bernie when elected. That is all I have for today.
