Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator and Democratic candidate for President, delivered a manifesto instead of a swan song at a relatively intimate gathering of rabid “Bernie or Busters” at Town Hall in New York City on June 23 – intimate compared with the massive rallies he is more accustomed to – vowing to keep alive the political revolution he inspired with his campaign for the presidency.
They cheered loudly, applauding, rising to their feet over and over as he blasted the Democratic establishment, mainstream media and Wall Street, and vowed to break up the banks. He said the political revolution would continue, citing 28,000 people who were inspired by Bernie to run for local, state and federal offices. No office is too lowly. Indeed, he is moving on from New York City to campaign for local candidates in Syracuse and California.
It’s not about me, he declared. It’s always been about you.
“Political revolution is about you,” Sanders said. “You are the ’revolutioners.’ What this campaign has shown – not just in winning 13 million votes, taking on the establishment all over this country – what it has shown is that millions of people are willing to stand up, fight back and create the nation.”
“What the system is designed to do – corporate media is designed to do is to tell you we cannot achieve real change [BOOOOOO goes the crowd] – that the only thing you can accept is incremental tiny changes [booooo]. But what our campaign is about is – sorry – we’re thinking about big change.
“It’s about people running for school board, city council, mayor, state legislature, for Congress, for the Senate, it’s about millions of people getting involved in the political process in a way we have never seen in the modern history of this country…
“We have to work tirelessly to make sure Trump is not president, but that is not good enough. We have to continue the process of transforming this country – get people on city councils and schools boards. It ain’t that hard.
“We are just getting started. Take down the democratic establishment.”
He never mentioned Hillary Clinton by name, but his attack on the Democratic establishment, campaign finance and Wall Street only energized the “Never Hillary” camp.
“Our job and this is a big job – and it doesn’t happen tomorrow – it’s not just overturning Citizens United – of course we have to do that – not just ending Republican governors’ voter suppression efforts – and of course we have to do that. What it is about – and this is not easy and we have to do together – is revitalizing American democracy [Big cheers]…
“Our job is to create an economy that works for all of us, not just Wall Street and the top 1 percent.
“Some people think it’s idealistic to talk about creating a moral economy – providing for middle class, children… that isn’t idealism, that is the practicality of what we’ve got to do… Never lose your outrage.”
He barely mentioned Republicans’ obstruction of every progressive proposal, project or plan that Obama has offered, nor the Senate Democrats who filibustered or the House Democrats who staged a historic sit-in in order to force a vote on gun control legislation. (Of course not. Mentioning gun control would be not be politically advantageous for him.)
He didn’t acknowledge any developments since he started his campaign a year ago – for example Obama’s success in achieving the Paris climate agreement, which would be undone if a Republican or Libertarian takes over the White House.
Rather, he threw out a laundry list of reforms, but never credited Obama for any – not Obama’s effort to win immigration reform, raising the federal minimum wage, paid parental leave (for federal workers and contractors), climate action – as if these were his and his alone – investing in infrastructure (would create 13 million jobs), $15 minimum wage, free tuition at public colleges, universal health care as a right, comprehensive immigration reform, affordable housing, campaign finance reform, and yes, breaking up the banks.
He expressed satisfaction that some of his ideas, initially branded as too idealistic and pie-in-the-sky to go anywhere, are now being embraced as normal.
But he reserved his biggest guns for Wall Street, saying, “And when we talk about transforming America, everyone understands you don’t change things without taking on the most powerful interest group in America, Wall Street.
“Our goal has to be two-fold – establishment of a modern-day Glass-Steagall [cheers, standing]. Two: it’s not just the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, it is simply the power and the concentration of wealth that they have – you have half-dozen banks that have assets that are equivalent to over 50 percent of GDP, they write two-thirds of credit cards and one-third of mortgages – unbelievable power and make money hand over fist – and isn’t much debate that their business model is fraud.”
He boasted of placing five members of the DNC platform committee and vowed it will produce the most progressive platform in history, and promised they would get rid of super delegates and make primaries open to non-Democrats.
He insisted emphatically that he would do everything in his power so that Donald Trump does not become president – but apparently that falls short of asking supporters to back Hillary Clinton.
The next day, in a television interview, he said he planned to vote for Hillary Clinton, but still did not formally endorse her or exhort his followers to vote for Clinton.
But here’s my theory: after spending 30 years in Congress as a scold, unable to enact any of the noble, progressive policies he advocated, serving in comparative anonymity, all of a sudden Sanders has gotten a taste for real celebrity, for real political power. People are paying attention to what he says. He has his Bernie Bros, his Bernie-or-Busters. Like every politician who gets addicted to the limelight, he is not willing to give that up and return to just being a senator from a small state.
But in the process, he will continue to harm Hillary Clinton, possibly irreparably, and accomplish what he says he most wants to avoid: Donald Trump in the White House (except I predict the RNC will find a way to dump Donald Trump and replace him with a Ted Cruz-Nikki Haley ticket, in which case Hillary Clinton will really need all the support she can muster from the Bernie supporters.) Any Republican would reverse whatever progress has been made on civil rights, economic justice, climate action, access to health care, indeed, in every aspect of life.
