Yesterday I attended a rally for Bernie Sanders that was held on the campus of Franklin Pierce University in tiny Rindge, New Hampshire. Sanders was introduced by Sex & the City star Cynthia Nixon. As I posted yesterday to this site, I think Ms. Nixon did a very good job of summarizing the state of the Democratic Party today.
Four years ago, when he was speaking about Medicare for all, when he was speaking about free college for all, when he was speaking about a $15 minimum wage, when he was speaking about taking on Wall Street, it seemed like a resistance-candidate position and I admired him for it. But what he has done is taken what used to be the far left of the Democratic Party and put it dead center.”
Bernie himself then took the stage and seconded that idea.
I had a series of proposals that the political establishment said was very radical, too extreme. Media establishment said was too extreme. The corporate establishment said was too extreme. Nobody believes in what Bernie is talking about. Well, it turns out that the people of New Hampshire did. And because you stood up for justice, we won 22 states last time around and helped transform the conversation of where America should be going.”
Well, credit where it’s due. If you’re paying attention at all you cannot deny that the Democratic Party has moved far to the left since the 2016 election. One could argue that New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez owes Bernie an unpayable debt of gratitude. Without the leftward pull of the Democratic Party that Bernie put on the rails here in New Hampshire four years ago, it is unlikely she would have defeated five-term incumbent Joseph Crowley in New York’s 14thCongressional District.
AOC and her fellow far-left freshman colleagues in the House can likely take the credit for the impeachment of President Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on record multiple times saying that she was reluctant to pursue an impeachment inquiry. That impeachment happened anyway is testament to the rising power and influence of the far left of the Democratic Party.
Here on election day in New Hampshire it appears that the race comes down to one between Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg. Joe Biden, once thought to be the front-runner, could finish fourth of even a distant fifth.
Last night, Pete Buttigieg tried to contrast himself to Bernie Sanders.
At a moment when our country is so divided we can’t risk further polarizing the American people. That’s why I’m very concerned about the suggestion that either you gotta be for a revolution or you must be for the status quo. Because that’s a vision of politics – an all or nothing vision – that most of us can’t see where we fit in.”
Left, far left or really far left? That’s the question facing voters here in New Hampshire today. We’ll know their answer tomorrow.