Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
Elections are not supposed to bring about revolutions. Most countries are best served by incremental change, and the presidential election of the US is like that.
If Sanders wins, that's clearly a big step in a certain direction. It would legitimize a huge number of liberal progressive agendas and bring them to the realm of "worth debating because it could happen".
If the Sanders' ideas prove so popular that you can become POTUS with them, opportunistic house and senate candidates would adopt many of them to help themselves get elected. Of course others would then take positions directly opposed to those ideas, but that still changes things. It would also mean the next president could have even more liberal ideas without being considered a radical.
Obama clearly paved the way for Sanders to be taken seriously. If Sanders wins, Elizabeth Warren for example would essentially be a moderate in the following election. (And there would probably be a candidate further left of her that might actually get some votes.)
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I seriously doubt the bolded. Hillary being a terrible candidate has paved the way for Sanders being taken seriously. If the Dems had say...Al Gore running against Bernie, this primary process would already be over. Hillary being so widely disliked personally and her serious trust issues are why Bernie is a success, and even that can't be said until he does well outside a totally white Iowa and his backyard in the Northeast.
As to Obama, he's almost to the right of Reagan overall. He sold hope and change and maybe more progressiveness, but he accomplished nothing progressive of significance even with the full deck in his favour (control of both the House and Senate between 2008 and 2010). I tend to think Obama was a better President than he'll get credit for, but really he was essentially a moderate Republican as President.