Will Bernie Run In 2020?

Progressive Democrats by Nancy Ohanian

I went to the first convention of the burgeoning alternative music business way back in the late '70s. All of us at indie labels, indie radio, indie publications, etc, got to meet in person for the first time and share our passion nd ideas about a music scene that was starting too take root in the popular culture. It was small and focused and fun. Now, I really hate going to conventions. At Warner Bros we did them annually, often twice a year-- one for the domestic company and one for the international company-- and I revelled that upon retiring I would never have to go to one again. All those germs... all that drunken behavior... all that bullshit and pointless travel. So I never went to any for the netroots movement that I really knew I should have gone to. But last night I got home from Berniepalooza. I had a good time and it was small enough to not be overwhelming-- maybe 250 people-- and to not be obsessed with mass inebriation and mass germ attacks. And I got to meet people in person who I've been conspiring with for over a decade on progressive politics. One woman whose work I admire tremendously told me she's in her 40's and said she's been wanting to meet me in person for years so that she could thank me for something that happened to her when she was 17 years old at a Morrissey concert at Madison Square Garden. She had charged the stage and was being escorted out of the building by the police when I walked over and gave her a backstage pass so she could get back in. She's been grateful all these years.

The event itself was good. Meeting all those people was enough for me but some of the presentations were inspiring and elucidating. Some weren't. But my mood kept going up and down based on whether or not I felt I was getting signals that Bernie is running or not. Blue America was the first PAC to start raising money for his 2016 campaign--even before he announced back then-- and we're doing it again this cycle too (just tap the thermometer on the right). But I was positive he was running a few months ago and Berniepalooza left me unsure. I asked Jeff Weaver every time I saw him and he said "maybe" every time. He and his staff are working as though Bernie is 100% in but when you talk to them they say that what Bernie says in public-- he's 50% decided basically-- is exactly what he says in private: he's 50% decided. So one day I felt all the signals added up to 49% and I would get depressed and the next day it was 51% and I would be all elated. Look, I'm not going to last forever; I'm not young anymore and the sense of immortality I had when I was climbing Mt. Everest or horseback riding in the Afghanistan's trackless Hindu Kush is long gone. I just want to see one great president before I die. Don't we all get one? There's no rule that says we do, is there? I just want to see one-- not someone who's somewhat good and relatively great, like Obama, but one who's historically great and who moves the country forward, like FDR. That's not Amy Klobuchar or Michael Bloomberg or Kirsten Gillibrand. That's Bernie.

But, as it turns out, I didn't even have to venture up into the frozen tundra to "find out" the good news. The Associated Press' Steve Peoples had the scoop all along. Sanders, his headline blared, eyes 'bigger' 2020 bid despite some warning signs. Dateline Burlington. "An insurgent underdog no more," he wrote, "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is laying the groundwork to launch a bigger presidential campaign than his first, as advisers predict he would open the 2020 Democratic presidential primary season as a political powerhouse." Whew. And then...

"A final decision has not been made, but those closest to the 77-year-old self-described democratic socialist suggest that neither age nor interest from a glut of progressive presidential prospects would dissuade him from undertaking a second shot at the presidency. And as Sanders’ brain trust gathered for a retreat in Vermont over the weekend, some spoke openly about a 2020 White House bid as if it was almost a foregone conclusion.

“This time, he starts off as a front-runner, or one of the front-runners,” Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver told The Associated Press, highlighting the senator’s proven ability to generate massive fundraising through small-dollar donations and his ready-made network of staff and volunteers.

Weaver added: “It’ll be a much bigger campaign if he runs again, in terms of the size of the operation.”

Amid the enthusiasm-- and there was plenty in Burlington as the Sanders Institute convened his celebrity supporters, former campaign staff and progressive policy leaders-- there were also signs of cracks in Sanders’ political base. His loyalists are sizing up a prospective 2020 Democratic field likely to feature a collection of ambitious liberal leaders-- and not the establishment-minded Hillary Clinton.

Instead, a new generation of outspoken Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and California Sen. Kamala Harris are expected to seek the Democratic nomination. All three have embraced Sanders’ call for “Medicare for All” and a $15 minimum wage, among other policy priorities he helped bring into the Democratic mainstream in the Trump era.

Let me stop here for a minute. Elizabeth Warren-- yes. She's the real deal; a real progressive. Tried and true-- PROVEN. Filled with great ideas, if-- maybe-- not the easiest to elect. But Kamala and Cory. You know a progressive by their actions, not by their electoral positioning strategies. Maybe Cory and Kamala will turn out to be progressives. They could start being progressives for a few years, obliterating past mistakes and in a decade, maybe less, run for president as progressives. I'm open to it. But in 2020? Are you kidding? I'm glad they've learned to parrot Bernie and that they've decided to vote well. It means something that they both have ProgressivePunch "A"s and that for the current session Kamala scores 99.61 and Cory scores 97.29, sandwiching Bernie's 98.82. It means "something," but not enough. Slow down kids, you both have a lot to prove before you'll win my vote. And you can do it-- by doing it, not claiming you will do it. People reported that a "high-profile Sanders supporter who was in attendance, Cornel West, described the Vermont senator as 'the most consistently progressive one out there,' suggesting that some would-be 2020 candidates have adopted Sanders’ words, but maintained ties to Wall Street and 'militarism.'" BINGO!

Perhaps the most important member of Sanders’ network, wife Jane O’Meara Sanders, said Democrats may be embracing Sanders’ “bold progressive ideas” on health care and the economy in some cases, but there’s need to go further on issues like climate change, affordable housing and student debt.

Whether her husband will lead the debate as a presidential candidate in 2020, she said, remains unclear. O’Meara Sanders noted that one question above all others would guide their decision: “Who can beat Donald Trump?”

“That has to be the primary goal. To win. We think you win by a very strong progressive commitment,” she told AP. When asked if Sanders could win in 2020, she said “every single poll” showed that Sanders would have beaten Republican nominee Donald Trump two years ago.

...“It’s not about us,” O’Meara Sanders added. “It’s about what’s right for the country.”

Despite signs pointing to a 2020 run, Sanders has given himself a clear escape hatch.

Weaver, like Sanders himself in a recent interview, suggested that the senator would step aside if he believes another candidate has a better shot at denying Trump a second term. There are no clear indications from Sanders or those closest to him, however, that he currently has that belief.

“I know they haven’t announced, but it sort of seems like that’s what’s happening,” said John Cusack, another actor invited to the weekend summit. Asked about his preference for 2020, he called Sanders “the only real progressive candidate out there.”

“All of the sudden, what was once fringe politics is now mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that (Texas congressman) Beto O’Rourke and all these young candidates are running on the People’s Summit and progressive movement platform, but let’s not forget who broke us through.”

“If he runs again, I’ll be on board,” Cusack said.

A word about Beto, since Cusack brought him up. Beto's a friend who I like a lot. Blue America backed him when he first ran for Congress and endorsed him against against Ted Cruz. And Beto is as progressive as they come on 3 issues: immigration, campaign finance reform and marijuana. Other than that... Beto never joined the Progressive Caucus. He joined the New Dems. His record in Congress was, at best, middling. It's great that he took on Cruz and did so well... and, perhaps (I think so) grew as a politician. But hie's no Bernie Sanders. He's been in Congress for 6 years. Go ahead and name an accomplishment or an initiative. His ProgressivePunch voting record, I'm sorry to say is an overall "F." Sorry to shatter any hallucinations. His lifetime crucial vote score-- 78.99. And this cycle... 67.65, pretty terrible, especially for someone representing a deep blue district (PVI D+17) where Obama won twice and where TRump's share of the 2016 general election vote was a miserable 27.2%.