Sometimes the Obvious Thing Is True: Bernie Sanders Is Just Too Liberal – Mother Jones

At the risk of stating the obviousand the even greater risk of stating it a little too obviouslythe most likely reason that Bernie Sanders is losing has nothing to do with his strategy or his toxic followers or Elizabeth Warren refusing to drop out. Its because hes too liberal. Thats it.

Even among Democrats, theres not a majority who identify as liberal, let alone mega liberal. Maybe there will be someday when Millennials and Gen Z take over, but not today.

I know Im a bit of a broken record on this, but the whole Bernie phenomenon is very much a part of the Twitter bubble. Or maybe its just the online blatherer bubble. In any case, I belong to a few progressive listservs and support for Joe Biden in those places is approximately zero. On Twitter, youd think there were no human beings in the country who supported Biden. Even in the more traditional media, theres an assumption that Biden is just sort of a default choice for some people, but that nobody actively likes the guy.

Maybe so. But out in the real world I think theres more grass roots support for Biden than he gets credit for. Its not as loud or as enthusiastic as Sanders or Warren get, but neither is it establishment support, as Bidens weak fundraising shows. Rather, it comes from Bidens experience; his general likability; his optimism; and yes, some Obama coattails. Polls show pretty clearly that its always been there, but it was hidden for a while during the boomlets for other candidates.

I know the red rose crowd doesnt want to hear this, but America is simply not a super liberal country. Even self-identified Democrats arent that liberal. I mean, take a look at who the Democratic nominees have been for the past 30 years: B. Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama, and H. Clinton. Id say this progression shows a party thats becoming more liberal, but its happening damn slowly. Its just not in Bernie territory yet.

And the country as a whole? Hoo boy. Its nowhere even close.

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Sometimes the Obvious Thing Is True: Bernie Sanders Is Just Too Liberal - Mother Jones