Give me a break. You had friggin Bush and Cheney running the show for 8 years and Obama was just Bush light for another 8......and you think Bernie is incompetent???!!?!? Its ALL about morals and integrity ....nothing else matters. You make the same mistake my father makes again and again.....he thinks having more money means you are smarter, when all it usually means is that you are more ruthless.
Please show me where I have said Bernie is incompetent. Understand that everyone running for President is competent, even Ben Carson, as kooky as he is, is a fucking neurosurgeon. And in the post of mine you quoted I clearly state I think Bernie is the better person, i.e. I think he's of higher integrity than the others.
But, Ben Carson, smart enough to be a brain surgeon would be a terrible president! Having money doesn't make one any smarter or less intelligent than the next person, it just means you wanted to make money and you went and did it. Much like politics there's a certain amount of ego necessary to make millions that some super intelligent people just don't have. You have truly brilliant people in business making millions and billions but you have truly brilliant people content doing volunteer work or maybe just putting a different priority first over money.
Now, getting back to Bernie, I've already said I don't think his ideas are that crazy or out there, however, in the United States of America you do gotta sell them. Bernie's shown that there's a sizable amount of people who believe them already but if the amount of people who already think like Bernie were enough to get what Bernie wants done then they'd have already been done! He has to sell them to a lot more people.
Bernie's shown me he's a good man. He's clearly adequate at fundraising and giving speeches. What he hasn't shown me is that he has any kind of true leadership ability, that he can inspire the confidence that he can accomplish his goals with the people already in power. And that's important because we're not voting for a 4 year dictator. If the Presidency alone had the power to just bring everything into existence then yes, Bernie is the best candidate hands down. Unfortunately(or fortunately depending on who's President at any given time) it's not and to pass the stuff Bernie wants to pass he's going to need to go through the House and Senate. Now, if there was also a wave of fresh new Sanders-like Representatives and Senators up for election at the same time that'd tilt the demographics in Congress towards Bernie's side he'd have a better shot at getting his stuff passed. But as it is, do I believe just plunking Bernie in the Presidency will convince Congress to play along with him? I really don't.
While I don't think Obama was ever as left leaning as many thought before election I would say he's a lot more charismatic than Bernie Sanders is and that didn't prevent him from basically getting stonewalled just trying to pass the less radical stuff he wanted.
You Americans should relish the chance to put someone like Bernie in power...it doesn't happen every day, not even in Canada, or Europe. Lots of politicians in these countries campaign from the left (like Hillary and Obama) but dictate from the right once they get in. Bernie doesnt impress me as a two faced asshole like most lawyers and politicians.
Feel it America, you may not get a better shot.
Look, if it comes down to Bernie being the nominee I will happily vote for Bernie Sanders, I like him far better than Hillary Clinton but I do get the concern a lot of people have regarding him. Considering how elections usually swing we're in for an interesting time. Historically the Democrats shouldn't even have a chance at the Presidency this election and yet they do, which is good but somewhat unusual. The last time Democrats went on a limb and moved to the left they got punished at the polls and now we have crazy Tea Partiers who are still convinced government is bad, and that Obama's a secret communist Muslim that's going to take away everyone's guns, I guess they also believe he would've taken over Texas(again) but through their bringing public attention to the plan they thwarted that plot. Sure if our districts were different, if our electoral college worked different, if all aspects of our election were different from the top down left leaning politicians would be much safer and more likely to get elected and pass stuff but this is the shit we gotta worry about.
Already, well, before it had even kicked in really, the anti-Obamacare sentiment had already built up enough to get to the point where the Republicans could get enough people in to pass it's removal(they just luckily don't have enough to override a veto). Obama was a popular, charismatic leader pushing for what should have been a relatively moderate health care bill and it basically cost the Congress.
If Sanders doesn't somehow exceed Obama's ability and truly inspire the whole country while accomplishing whatever he can accomplish he's done for, I think the backlash would be severe.
Because something else that's rarely brought up is, assuming a President Sanders could get passed everything he wants as he wants it, just pretend with me, the United States would be in for a world of hurt initially. Raising minimum wage is overall a good thing, it should be done, but raising it will accelerate certain jobs towards automation. It will eliminate some jobs. Some businesses, that in reality maybe should have already failed if they can't provide workers a livable wage, will fail. Raising corporate taxes and closing loopholes at the same time, which should be done, will exacerbate that. And then finally starting the death march of the private health care industry, which should also be done mind you, will eliminate yet more good jobs and wreak havoc on 401ks.
So step back and assume Sanders gets it all passed, now look back at Obama, how severe do you think the backlash of the average American will be to the initial years following Sanders first term compared to Obama's? And what are the chances he or another Democrat gets to stay in the White House and keep it all from being repealed?
I don't know that the average American is truly ready for the kind of societal change and financial "restructuring" that Bernie Sanders proposes, nor do I think he's inspirational and charismatic enough to lead the country through it and remain popular enough to not just get it passed but to stay long enough to defend it until the country has regained its footing and is better off than before.
