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Bernie Sanders Isn’t Starting A Political Revolution, He’s Tapping Into The Future Of The Democratic Party

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 06:04 PST, Mar 18, 2016

Bernie Sanders took the stage on Tuesday, not as a man defeated, but a man invigorated.

He had just lost — or was in the process of losing — five key primaries that could have turned the tide in his race against Hillary Clinton. The Sanders campaign was looking for contests in Illinois, Missouri, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio as a chance to stop Clinton before a string of Sanders-friendly states voting in the next few weeks.

Instead, Clinton won all the races, putting what could have been a death knell in the Sanders campaign. Yes, he still has a potential path to the nomination, but it would require blowout wins in states like New York and California, a slight possibility to say the least.

But if Bernie Sanders was considering giving up his fight, there were no signs of it on Tuesday in Phoenix. He vowed to fight on, telling the cheering crowd that they were part of a “revolution.”

The remarks didn’t make it onto television, as all major networks ignored the speech. But the message is still resonating among political experts, who noted that Bernie Sanders has tapped into a strong and growing movement among Democratic voters, especially younger ones.

Joshua Green of the Chicago Tribune noted that what Bernie Sanders has is not as much a revolution as it is simply tapping into the pulse of the Democratic Party’s future.

“Ever since Sanders began drawing massive crowds last summer, pundits have explained his strength as being primarily a product of Clinton’s weaknesses: her trouble attracting young people, her murky ties to wealthy donors and Wall Street, her inability to energize Democratic voters despite what is, after all, an historic candidacy. At the Democrats‘ March 9 debate, Clinton herself seemed to accept this critique when she said plaintively, ‘I am not a natural politician, in case you haven’t noticed.’

“Maybe not. But the true basis of Sanders’ strength has been largely overlooked: He gives voice to a set of policy ideas that lie closer to the hearts of most Democratic voters — and especially the Democratic voters of the future — than Clinton’s do.”

After his series of losses on Tuesday that included races in Missouri and Illinois that Sanders supporters had hoped would go their way, there is increasing pressure on Sanders to drop out of the race. Even the most powerful man in the Democratic Party is privately calling on donors to rally behind Hillary Clinton.

As the New York Times reported, President Barack Obama has sent a warning that it is nearing time for Bernie Sanders to end his campaign.

“In unusually candid remarks, President Obama privately told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was nearing the point at which his campaign against Hillary Clinton would end, and that the party must soon come together to back her.

…

“Mr. Obama chose his words carefully, and did not explicitly call on Mr. Sanders to quit the race, according to those in the room. Still, those in attendance said in interviews that they took his comments as a signal to Mr. Sanders that perpetuating his campaign, which is now an uphill climb, could only help the Republicans recapture the White House.”

But as many have noted — and his speech in Phoenix on Tuesday clearly showed — the end of the 2016 campaign, whenever it will come, does not mean the end of Sanders’ impact on the party and on the American electorate. He may push Hillary Clinton slightly to the left, but the real impact will be seen beyond 2016, as Democratic party leaders, whether it be Elizabeth Warren or Tulsi Gabbard or Corey Booker, will need to sound more like Bernie Sanders and less like Hillary Clinton.

[Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images]

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