What you have described is the inertia of government. All 6 of your points would apply to any democrat who were to win the election. At least with Bernie, he has a populist movement behind him that has been picking up momentum and will continue to do so. His message motivates people and energizes the youth. He is the most likely candidate to beat Trump and the high turn out that having him on the ticket would provide is the best chance we have of winning in as many down ballot races as possible.

In short, Bernie has the best chance of winning and then surmounting some of those obstacles that you mentioned. All the other candidates would most likely lose and or win but then face government paralysis because of those 6 problems that you brought up. Wouldn't you rather go with the candidate who has some chance of accomplishing some good?

@RoboGraham No sir, Bernie is struggling to even be at the top of the pack in primaries in two presidential election runs. He will not be able to get anything done in Washington. Obama was a charisma in 2008 and even he could hardly get anything done as President. Bernie and you are overselling his candidacy. Bernie is struggling and people are not even sure who a good candidate is. That is not a mark of a dynamic leader. Bernie is not selling.

Which is the right hero?

@RoboGraham Who can win and has a correct idea, not inflated ideas about himself or herself. Bernie is not that man by any measure.

@St-Sinner SO just some vague notion of a person who is a winner and has correct ideas. No specific people in mind?

@RoboGraham

There are a few things I want to explain.

1. I am not disparaging Bernie. I know he means well and he is a decent guy and I admire your advocacy of him.
2. I am just trying to explain what I think based on how I feel after what read an sense from the facts on the ground. I have been strong in my argument but the purpose is not be disrespectful to your passion for him.

As for who will win. sadly we Democrats do not have a good candidate who is clearly leading the pack. Yes, it is a sorry state of affairs.

I'd like to see him pick Gabbard for VP.

I'm glad we have someone here who can predict the future.

@RoboGraham
It gives me no pleasure in predicting Bernie's doom. Enemy's enemy is my friend. But a friend like Bernie, who needs Trump? At least the economy is rolling, illegal immigrants are being stopped.....I am willing to settle for this and not dream of healthcare if that is certainly not going to happen. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

@St-Sinner Healthcare certainly not going to happen? Yet it has happened in all the other developed nations. Are you not a patriot? Do you not believe that America can accomplish great things for it's people?

Are you willing to accept a Trumpian America rather than give Bernie a chance to help the working class?

@St-Sinner Your not going to let it happen? What are you going to do to stop him? What can you do, if you are planning to use your debate skills, you may as well pack it up now.

@St-Sinner so when the Trump overinflated economy collapses, as Republican economy bubbles regularly do, you will be stuck with a dictator whose only interest is keeping his own and other billionaires money safe, you will be kissing much of the middle class benefits gained over decades goodbye. But then, maybe you are rich enough not to care.

@Barnie2years Hillary gave us Trump 1. Bernie will give us Trump 2.

@St-Sinner Barnie2years: 0
@RoboGraham I am not a Bernie supporter. I was the last time, but his message is stale and he is too old. I’m backing Buttigeg as long as he is in the top tier. I think he’s going to be the surprise candidate.

@Barnie2years I think he is bought by the special interests and the people will reject him.

@RoboGraham Speculation is worth about as much as spit. Time will tell and since half the candidates drop out long before PA gets a shot to vote, there is not much reason to get excited about the whole thing for at least a couple of months. So we shall see of the Democratic machine wins again with Biden ( big mistake in my opinion) or the Bernie or bust crowd carries him to the top. Or Warren get's the backing of the female vote, or Buttigege can pull his fans together and stay near the top. As the election in 2016 showed, polls and guessing don't make a president.

@Barnie2years True, but a candidate cannot win the democratic nomination with 0% of the black and vote and no enthusiasm from the youth.

@Barnie2years All predictions point to Buttigieg winning Iowa.

Glad i clicked on that, i appre iate a short and pointed article, even if its narrow in scope

It's like fishing. Give a really hard pull on the pole, you lost your fish.
Play it till its tired, and land it.

Interesting stuff. The comments by progressives who have been harassed for confronting centrists reminds me of a video I saw recently of a climate change activist who had the balls to question Biden at one of his campaign appearances. The activist even prefaced his ? to Biden by saying he would support him in the general if he was the nominee, but that he was currently leaning to Steyer. Biden not only brushed off his ? about Biden's position on climate change, but Biden told him to support someone else and then went as far as to put his hands on the activist's shirt while leaning into him and lecturing him. Looks like Biden lives up to his whole rep for being innappropriate and not respecting someone's personal space. I wish the guy had called the cops on Biden for assault, since if the roles were reversed, you can be damn sure Biden would have pressed charges....

BTW, this happened just days ago here in Iowa.....Of course, the media won't cover this....

I agree i worry about her ability to street fight a little but she has consistently tried to protect workers and consumers.

@Lorajay She has done some good things for consumer protection but a Warren presidency wouldn't be half as positive for working people as a Sanders presidency would.

@Lorajay Oh, Warren is very good at a street fight. It will be fun to watch the fight between the Orange Orangutan and Pocahontas. It will be a payback time for Warren. She is going to fight like a bitch..

@St-Sinner Like a "bitch"? Don't let the Warren supporters hear you say that. They will call you sexist.

@RoboGraham She will go tit for tat in debates with Bernie, will not be timid is what I meant. Trump has to know when he cannot treat women like weaklings he has had in his life.

@St-Sinner Trump will treat women however he wants as he always has.

@RoboGraham He happens to find women who will first bend backwards and then regular for life for him. All bimbo eruptions and Melania is quet. She likes the fame a lot I suppose when she visits Slovenia.

@St-Sinner Right so, how does that make Warren the better candidate?

@RoboGraham Warren is no walk-over woman and it is going to boil Trump's blood in the debate.

@St-Sinner Hillary wasn't a walk over woman. She will have to do better than just not getting walked over on the debate stage to beat Trump. She doesn't have what it takes but the point is moot anyway. She will not win the nomination.

I'm 77 and well aware of differences between 70 and 77. I repeat i want a 2 term president and incumbents are easier to re elect. I worked really hard for Bernie in 2016. Here is a picture where i organized a photo bomb with a former Democratic governor that was on MSNBC. I also know a Democratic president has a hard row to hoe to make any real difference. Bernie would be 79 when he takes office if he is elected. That would make him 82 during the 2024 campaign. He is exceptional but very few stay that way into their 80s.

@Lorajay At this point, we are voting for more than just a man, we are voting for a movement. If Sanders isn't able to follow through on a second term or even if he isn't able to complete his first, his win will be a mandate for change and whoever follows him will have to continue with his vision.

@RoboGraham i agree you are voting for a movement, movements need leaders to remaon relevant.

Warren was a Republican until she became a Democrat.

@skado She was a Republican in Texas before starting her political career. For the last 25 years, she has been a staunch democrat and very vocal one. Ronald Reagan, Herbert Hoover, Strom Thurmond, Leon Panetta all changed political parties. Hillary Clinton campaigned for Republican Barry Goldwater.

@St-Sinner
You got it; those names all belong in the same box with Warren. I notice Bernie isn’t on that list.

4 and 6 are superficial, nothing more.

5. Did Bernie try to hide himself? I remember his campaign tweeting about it the next day. He was back to campaigning in a week. He has been going strong ever since. Campaigning harder than all the others.

6. Warren hijacked Bernie's platform. Did Bernie ever hijack a platform where he doesn't belong?

7. Democratic socialism is a positive. It will reinvigorate the party.

8. Warren, a democrat since she was 47 years old. Yes, that sounds like true loyalty to me. Bernie is well outside of the democratic establishment and that is a positive. People are fed up with the establishment. He will use the anger people have toward the establishment to take over the party as Trump did to to the republican party.

@RoboGraham I admire you passionate defense of Bernie but please use your passion on a good candidate. Bernie will not be president.

@skado Bernie never joined the Democratic Party. Now he is begging for a platform. He knows he will not even qualify for the ballot card if he tried to run as an independent. He is trying to be a wolf in sheep's clothing but that will not happen. We will not let that happen.

@St-Sinner If you aren't even going to attempt to challenge me on my defense of him, seems like I must already have found a good candidate. And many others are seeing him as a good candidate as well. He is surging.

I remember when you put out posts on the subject of Mayor Pete and others surging in the past. Do you plan to do the same for the candidate who is currently surging?

@RoboGraham
I really want any candidate to beat Trump but Bernie being that man really makes me nervous. I see a dark future with a humiliating defeat for the history books for the Democratic party if Bernie is nominated. I am just fighting to save myself. I do not want to be embarrassed to walk in the street and be called a Democrat after Bernie fiasco in 2020. I am just fighting for a survival.

O Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

@skado i was a Republican in college but I outgrew it. Just maybe she is as sincere as i am.

@Lorajay

You too? Lol
She is very sincere.

@St-Sinner Yes he is really behaving like such a wolf, trying to guarantee everyone healthcare, helping people afford to get an education, and trying to make sure that all working people get paid a living wage. What a dangerous wolf he is.

@RoboGraham
I only wish I could help you understand Bernie will not be president. Being sincere and being president are two different things. Being an idealist finishes last in Presidential race.

@St-Sinner Well you haven't given me any reasons to believe that he won't be president. All you have said is that he will have another heart attack. Possible but not a sure thing. Far from it.

@RoboGraham

It is not a rocket science to understand why Bernie and Buttigieg cannot be elected. America is not ready to elect a candidate with these demographics.

1. Gay
2. Mormon
3. Atheist
4. Muslim
5. Hindu
6. Jewish
7. Self proclaimed white supremacist
   ............
8. A black president is also very unlikely for another 15 years. Obama was a very rare exception. He was very good, he came during a perfect storm (anger against Iraq war, against Bush and Cheney, also about Rumsfeld, serious economic meltdown, and a lousy candidate like McCain). This storm will not happen again. America's white majority will elect an average white candidate than a twice as good black candidate if all other things are normal. It has to be a perfect storm.

We don't like it? Too bad but that is how it works. Tell me which candidate like Bernie or Buttigieg was elected in the last 40 years for president. Name any. In our euphoria, we often deny the facts on the ground.

@Lorajay
The fact that she was a republican is anecdotal. The fact that she's a neoliberal capitalist is not.

@St-Sinner Tell me the last time America elected a reality TV show host conman before Trump. Never, but he is now president. Just because something hasn't happened before doesn't mean it can't happen.

And we have already elected a candidate similar to Sanders. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was the most popular president since Washington and he was elected 4 times. The only person to ever do that.

@RoboGraham Trump was elected by a white backlash against a black president. There will be another to last 20 years against electing a Jewish president. Make no mistake about it.

@St-Sinner I don't think anyone cares about his judaism. This is not 1960. In fact, I've never even heard it brought up until you did just now.

@RoboGraham You are in a sweet dream. You just made one for you. The facts on the ground are very different. I live in Texas. I see it first hand. The problem with Bernie supporters is in your passion you are floating an a La la Land. You do not want to see or hear about the reality. Also most do not want Bernie's healthcare. Only socialists do.I am sure very happy with my employer provided health care and I believe in being in the workforce. I will never elect a leader on one issue. I want a leader who is good for the nation in most areas. Bernie is a single issue candidate. Healthcare, healthcare, healthcare. What else? Free college and more free things?

@St-Sinner

Single payer healthcare is very popular- [cnbc.com]

Apparently you haven't been paying much attention. Yes healthcare is his core issue but there is much more to the movement than just Med4All.

Guaranteeing a living wage to all workers
Green New Deal
Reducing the costs of drugs
Increasing affordable housing
Ending private prisons and addressing mass incarceration
Ending the drug war
Taking on the Military Industrial Complex
Getting out of foreign wars
Jobs guarantee
Reducing wealth inequality/ increasing taxes on corporations and the 1%
Workplace democracy
Debt forgiveness/ making college affordable (as you mentioned)
Expanding social security

There is actually quite a lot more than just the one issue.

@Aurora62 Sanders is up in Iowa and New Hampshire, leading in California and now closing the gap in Texas. He has the most donors and the most momentum by far. And yet, somehow @St-Sinner believes that we are living in lala land.

@Aurora62 Lol, good point.

Yeah we landed people on the moon before anyone else had ever done it. Single payer healthcare is absolutely common in the first world but for some strange reason these cynics believe that it is unobtainable. They want to just give up on the idea of American exceptionalism.

@RoboGraham I am saying again..... Bernie will not be president. He will not be even nominated.

@RoboGraham, @Aurora62 A wrong analogy. That is why Bernie never makes a winning argument. If it was up to the voters, man would never land on the Moon.

@St-Sinner It's not up to the voters to make those decisions, it's up to the leaders. The leaders, put in place by voters, decide what to do with America's great strength and wealth. We elected Kennedy and he made the momentous decision to go to the moon. Now we have the opportunity to elected a president who will create a rational healthcare system.

@St-Sinner Do you believe that saying he won't be the president over and over will make it so?

@RoboGraham No, but i can tell the future in advance. The earlier you accept, the less agony you will have later.

@St-Sinner You are a fortune teller?

@RoboGraham No but very close because I am a good reader of news, who can sense the sentiments and because of my hard nosed pragmatism I do not get overwhelmed by passions or emotions. It is easier for me to seperate BS from the facts which Bernie supporters cannot. They are dreamers and not practically thinking people. You must be out of your mind to believe that a Jewish, 78 years old candidate who looks like a crazy professor or a musician with hair to the wind to run for president after a heart attack. You do not need a fortune teller to tell you that Bernie cannot be president.

@Aurora62 What you are missing is how long it took for those issues to change minds. It did not happen in 4 years or 8 years. It happened over 40 to 100 years. Someone like Bernie can be elected, just not now and not for another 30 years at the least. You are a dreamer and not really looking around.

@St-Sinner Right, it takes decades for a big momentous change to occur. the healthcare debate has been going on since the early 20th century. People have been fighting for a single payer system since before FDR. It is time for that long fight to finally be won.

You are concentrating on superficial attributes and playing identity politics. The election of Trump should indicate to you that things have changed. Only people on the far right who would never vote for him anyway cares that he is jewish. People care about issues and character. They want the leader who is most likely to improve their lives and Bernie is it.

Bernie is the most likely candidate to beat Trump. All the vote blue no matter who democrats who just want to vote against Trump will turn out for Sanders. He will turn out the enthusiastic youth vote who recognize that Bernie is the best chance they have for a prosperous life and he is motivating many people who have become disenchanted with the status quo. He gets the votes that a centrist would get plus a high turnout of youth and typical non-voters. Having him on the ballot is the best way for democrats to do well in the down ballot races too. He is the man to lead the democrats to victory and reform the system for the better.

@RoboGraham Argue every which way you want. America will not elect Bernie. I have given you reasons but in your high passion you are refusing to see the truth.

That was me 30 years ago. I decided that I wanted a pricey car and I found every reason in the world to justify it. A friend said with this reasoning I could sell the Brooklyn Bridge too. It took me years and losing face to accept that it was a bad decision. You are on that road friend. Please wake up before terrible humiliation hits us badly. We do not need it after 4 years of drubbing by McConnell and Trump.

@Aurora62

I will give you a very pragmatic answer. There is no dreaming, feel good, wishy washy answer here.

1. There is no candidate in Democrats who can win against Trump. If any like Bernie or Buttgieg is elected, I know that either will be a colossal failure without a majority in both houses. McConnell will frustrate a Democratic President to extreme constipation.

2. In the current situation, Trump is likely to deliver on two issues more than any Republican or Democratic president has delivered in the last 40 years. I will tolerate Trump for all other things if he delivers good progress in these two:

   a. Stop ridiculous illegal immigration at the border and shut down the special interest illegal immigration industry for good

   b. Kill the socialism talk in this country for good. Forever. Never again this free college, free health care, free housing, free toilet paper trash talk every time it raises its head again. Do it just like we killed the Communism in the 1960s.

It must get really worse for the Democratic Party before it can get better to the glory days of FDR, Clinton etc. Let the Democratic Party revolutionize itself and find its purpose and mission again. Let it realize that it should not allow independent candidates to hijack the party platform. Don't allow candidates to talk trashy socialism talk. If they do kick their asses out of the party and stay true to the equal rights, human rights, parity and justice for all mission again.

@Aurora62 I hope you don't find comfort again in saying that Hillary won the popular vote. She in in the dumps today. It makes me want to puke each time i hear it.

@Aurora62 my IRA is stronger than how much Social Security would ever give me. Social Security is for losers.

@Aurora62
Nobody in the family. We are makers of our own destinies. Dont ever compare me with your kind.

@Aurora62 You may have a point there I admit. I have weaknesses but i have many strengths.

@Aurora62 I believe in pulling with the bootstraps and not being a social laibility to others. Think about if we all thought like this. I have never ever applied for non employment, food stamps or any social welfare of any kind.

Feeling for non doers is not empathy. You have a wrong definition of empathy.

If you were a ruler you will wander away resources earned by able people. You will do a great damage to the society.

Theyre alike because theyre not old guard. Thats it

Say what you may if it feels good. True or not. That is a Bernie supporters characteristic. I call it a La La Land.

@St-Sinner If anyone is in La La Land, it's the guy claiming that he can "tell the future in advance."

@RoboGraham The writing is on the wall. Can you not read?

@St-Sinner You continuously make the claim that Bernie cannot win without any attempt to back it up with information or a logical argument.

You are arguing from a stance of pure emotion. It is not persuasive and you have provided nothing to convince anyone to believe what you believe.

@RoboGraham I backed up in several responses right here and other responses to you elsewhere. Which one did you not understand?

@St-Sinner The part I don't understand is how you can see the future because that isn't possible.

@RoboGraham Sixth Sense or based on acute observation of facts that helps you just feel in the gut what is most likely to happen. Everyone has that gift to use but you can only use if your thinking is not clouded by blind and mad faith in wrong heroes.

American presidency is less about ideas and a lot about a personality contest. The voters will not send Bernie as a leader of the most powerful nation on Earth and of the free world to go shake hands with Queen Elizabeth in the Buckingham Palace. That will not happen.

@St-Sinner What you are describing is called critical thinking. It's not a sixth sense and it's not a gut feeling. People who think they can use it to predict the future are not thinking critically.

@RoboGraham But it is some useful power, right?

@St-Sinner it's not a power, it's a skill.