It Looks Like Bernie Isn't Going To Be President, But He Is The Most Consequential Person In The Politics Of The American Left

Thursday evening Bernie did his first TV interview since dropping out and instead of going on TV with some hostile establishment shill he went on the air with MSNBC's savviest critical thinker and most reliable journalist, Chris Hayes. Talking about his discussions with Biden, Bernie said that Biden's "people are very smart and they understand that in order to beat somebody like Trump they're going to have to generate a lot of excitement, a lot of energy and reach out to people who have not necessarily been all that supportive of the vice president. And that means a lot of younger people, a lot of lower income people and I think what you have begun to see and will continue to see is that the vice president is listening to many of the concerns that low income people and working people and young people have and beginning to move in their direction. He is now on board in making public colleges and universities tuition free for folks who are under $125,000 a year. He's now on board in cancelling student debt for those who have been at public colleges and universities and HBCUs... That is a movement in the right direction, not far enough to my mind, but it is a movement, an important movement. Today he announced that he would support reducing the eligibility age for Medicare for 65 down to 60-- again, a step in the right direction. There are millions and millions of people 62... 64 years of age who desperately want to get into Medicare; they will be able to do it... I think that what you will see is the vice president beginning to move in a more progressive direction."

Bernie just described what could possibly be-- at least in his mind-- a real change for one of the most conservative Democrats in American politics for the last 5 decades. Wishful thinking? Smart strategy to move a possible Biden administration in the right (left) direction?

As John Nichols mentioned in his look-back on the #NotMeUs campaign for The Nation, Bernie Sanders Changed Our Politics, Bernie was always a movement builder and educator, so nothing at all like Biden or any other contemporary U.S. politicians. "The senator," he wrote "set out to organize and educate and transform our understanding of what is possible in politics. He succeeded." When he suspended his campaign on Wednesday, Bernie "acknowledged that he would not be the transformative democratic socialist president of the United States. He would not even be the Democratic nominee for president. He would be a senator, one of 100, struggling to advance policies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic collapse that has extended from it... energetic when he declared, 'While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not. Let me say this very emphatically. As you all know, we have never been just a campaign,' Sanders said. 'We are a grass-roots multiracial, multigenerational movement which has always believed that real change never comes from the top on down, but always from the bottom on up. We have taken on Wall Street, the insurance companies, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, the military-industrial complex, the prison industrial complex and the greed of the entire corporate elite. That struggle continues.' But the immediate success of the movement-- and its potential to achieve more success in this critical moment-- is what excites Sanders most. He intends to be a powerful force in the Democratic Party, and he expects that the delegates he had already won-- and those he may accumulate in the contests yet to come-- will write a platform that is the most progressive in the history of the party. At a more fundamental level, he expects that this radical program will form the necessary alternative vision to the austerity agenda that conservatives are sure to advance as the crisis eases."

Here's what Nichols shared from his conversation with Bernie last week:

I think the progressive movement has a great amount be proud of in terms of what we have accomplished in recent years. Right now, we have very clearly won the ideological battle. On issue after issue, which four or five years ago seemed to be radical and extreme, progressive positions are now widely supported by Democrats in general and in many cases by the American people. We have taken this country a very, very long way in a progressive direction, and at the end of the day, that is enormously important.

So I think I’m very comfortable in saying that, certainly within the Democratic Party, and I think more broadly within the country, we are winning the ideological struggle, and we should be very proud of that.

The second point, equally important, is the future of this country does not rest with people who are 75 or 80 years of age. It rests with the young people. In terms of ideology, we are winning young people overwhelmingly. Overwhelmingly.

I’m not just talking about my campaign. I’m talking about where the young people of this country are coming from. They are coming from a very, very different place, a very deep different place than is the Democratic establishment.

When you talk about the future of this country, and you talk about a multi-generational, multi-racial movement of young African Americans and whites and Latinos and Native Americans and Asian Americans, that’s the future of the country! They are the future, and they are rallying in overwhelming numbers to our ideology and our politics and our belief about where this country must be going.

Those are two enormous victories that we have won.

Next generation... AOC up next? Anyway, here's the note she sent to Bernie after his announcement:

Thank you for fighting for all of us from the very beginning, and throughout your entire life.

Thank you for fighting the hard, lonely fights in true devotion to a people’s movement in the United States.

Thank you for inspiring me to run for office. You made this broke girl from the Bronx believe that a grassroots movement was possible and winnable, and that everyday, working people are powerful enough to overcome the entrenched interests of corrupted power and systems.

You have shown us that victory is ours for the organizing, even if not always guaranteed. Thank you for demonstrating that it IS possible to serve authentically, without compromising our values or integrity, and with the ferocious urgency and paradigm-challenging leadership that this moment demands.

Thank you for it all. We love you. #NotMeUs

Los Angeles progressive Ted Lieu has largely steered clear of the presidential race. Today, he explained where's he's at on the campaign. "Senator Sanders, Vice President Biden, our other Democratic candidates, and Democrats across our country all agree that we need to remove Donald Trump from power. He is a uniquely dangerous individual in a precarious moment for our nation. Democrats from across the political spectrum (as well as independents and even some Republicans) are going to need to work together this November. These are challenging times and it has never been more clear that leadership matters in times of crisis. It is absolutely imperative that come January 2021 Trump is no longer our President."





In an e-mail to her own supporters, Bernie surrogate Pramila Jayapal wrote that as a lifelong activist and organizer, she believes "that politics is the art of the possible-- and it’s up to all of us to move the boundaries of what is possible. That's what Bernie Sanders has done throughout his life and career, demonstrating the kind of authenticity, consistency, and passion we need in our leaders. And although Bernie has suspended his presidential campaign, his work-- and our work-- is not done. His 'not me, us' movement was never about any one person. At the end of the day, this is about all of us-- about how we step up, take charge, take care of each other and lead, in big and small ways." She had more to say:

I am so proud to have campaigned fiercely with and for Bernie-- fighting for Medicare For All and humane immigration reform, taking on corporate supremacy and this corrupt administration, and lifting up the voices of his multi-racial, multi-generational movement for the change that will transform our country and finally take on the racial, economic, and gender inequality that has plagued us for too long.

Today, the stakes could not be any higher. We face an unprecedented public health and economic crisis that has revealed the problems with systems that prioritize the wealthy and well-connected over regular people and the common good.

We need solutions that match the scale of our crisis. And we need our movement to be energized and enthusiastic about voting to take back the White House and voting in down-ballot races in November. Our Democratic nominee must recognize the scale of the challenges we face and must welcome and embrace the movement for change that Bernie’s presidential campaign has created.

The causes we fight for-- healthcare, a decent job, a good education, a healthy planet-- are not idealistic or pie-in-the-sky. They are necessary.

Bernie Sanders carried our message across the country. He celebrated us for thinking big and believing that we deserve better. And for that, I am so very grateful to him.

Onwards to justice.