It’s the oldest debate within the Democratic Party: what to do about a progressive insurgent candidate? Whether it’s Ted Kennedy’s challenge against Jimmy Carter in 1980, Howard Dean against John Kerry in 2004 or Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton, moderates and centrists always say the same thing: in order to win, you need those swing voters. That means you have to pick the moderate choice. The problem with that argument is that it never really works out in the general election. Kennedy and Dean’s voters stayed home in November. 3 to 4,000,000 Bernie Sanders primary voters never showed up for Hillary Clinton. Now the same argument is being floated again, this time in favor of Joe Biden.
Every Single Time, Centrists Say They’ll Win. And They Never Do.
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Yeah – it wouldn’t be so bad if the “center” was actually somewhere near the center. That’s what one would hope for in a democratic republic.
COMPROMISE, n. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of thinking he has got what he ought not to have, and is deprived of nothing except what was justly his due.
– Ambrose Bierce
In fact, “The Center” is exactly dead centre.
The problem is, in the USA, the whole governmental mass has been dragged so far to the right that what is now (and for the past four decades or so) “The Center”, is well to the right of where most arch conservatives in other nations line up they would be considered wild-eyed left wingers by the US media.
“To Media, No Democrat Can Possibly Be Right-Wing”
https://fair.org/home/to-media-no-democrat-can-possibly-be-right-wing/?awt_l=FQQVW&awt_m=hmBMDgIvfIR._TQ
On the contrary, I suspect Democratic Party stalwarts can accept Ms Warren if necessary, even if she would not be their first choice. Bernard Sanders, however, is quite a different kettle of fish, as this article by Aidan Smith in the Nation points out….
Henri