February 14, 2016
Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
Hillary and Bernie should pledge to run as a ticket now
While Hillary and Bernie are working hard to distinguish themselves from each other – and there are legitimate differences – the reality is that they agree way more than they disagree, especially when comparing their positions to the Republican candidates.
Bernie and Hillary have both also behaved reasonably well towards each other and avoided the kind of nasty and divisive language that have characterized the Republican debates. This is very important for keeping Democratic voters engaged, which will be very important in the general election. The worst thing that could happen for those of us who support a progressive agenda would be for the Democratic primary fight to turn nasty and leave supporters of one or the other candidates angry and bitter so that they stay home this November.
Equally important, as I listen to the two of them I see complementary strengths and weaknesses. Hillary has an exceptional body of experience, most recently in the area of foreign affairs, which is one of Bernie’s weaknesses. Bernie is much more believable when he says that he will work implement tax and regulatory policies that will reign in Wall Street and take real steps to address income inequality.
Hillary and Bernie could avoid the first problem and turn the second into an opportunity by pledging now to run as a ticket.
Doing so would ensure that they continued to treat each other and their ideas respectfully and to resist pressures from their campaign consultants and the media to turn the primary election into a catfight. It would also create a team with unprecedented breadth and experience. Bernie would keep Hillary from backsliding to the corporate interests that have been supporting her and Hillary would provide the practical experience Bernie needs to implement his ideas.
The debate between now would be who gets to be the presidential candidate and who gets to be vice president. Either way, they would make a great team.
Comments
Bernie & Hilary
From your mouth to their ears. The same sentiment occurred to me after their first debate. If their respective egos can overcome the rancor of the competition for 1st place it would be a dream ticket. I gave Bernie a hundred bucks when he started out to get his going, but I’d vote for either one. The Republican contenders are the most bizarre bunch of goons I've seen in a long time. They make the imbecile W & the crook Nixon look like Princes.
Jim Repace
More difference between Hillary and Bernie than meets the eye
I don't think so, Stan.
I believe that Bernie is committed to really changing the course of the American economy, and taking democracy back from the corporations. Hillary stood up for women and children 25 years ago, but she has long since http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/hillary-not-truthful-abou_b_91... herself to corporate interests. She can't make the changes that Bernie wants to make because Wall St has paid her http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/07/31/hillary-clinton-r...$139 million not to make them. Of course, maybe Bernie can't, either. If Bernie begins to succeed, he might be taken down in the same way as JFK. I think Bernie knows this, and he figures he's an old man and this is his chance to put himself on the line for what he believes in. There's nothing he could do as VP.
Eight years ago, Obama was much more than the lesser of two evils. He promised us a "public option" that would put an limit to insurance companies' control over health care in America. He promised an end to perpetual war in the Middle East. And there was an implicit promise that with a Constitutional scholar in the White House, we might expect prosecution of the unprecedented petty corruption and vast crimes against humanity of the Bush administration. But in office, Obama fought to give the health insurers guarantees of even more bloated profits. He continued Bush’s wars and started new ones. Under the cloak of “look forward, not backward,” he blocked investigations of the Bush era travesties, not only by his own Justice Dept but by Congress. And lest there be any doubt about the meaning of the phrase, he let Democrat http://leftinalabama.com/state-attorneys-general-petition-appeals-court-... Siegelman rot in jail.
The Patriot Act, domestic surveillance, an end to the thousand-year-old guarantee of habeas corpus, a White House cloaked in secrecy and aggressive prosecution of insiders who tell the truth -- under Bush, these were all aberrations, and we had every reason to hope that in 2008 the American nightmare would come to an end. Instead, all these horrors are now ensconced as bi-partisan consensus.
Obama did more damage to American democracy than any Republican could do. Never again can a candidate rally the American spirit with promises of "hope and change.
Sanders-Warren in '16.
- Josh Mitteldorf
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
While I have many complaints about Obama (read this blog), saying that "Obama did more damage to American democracy thatn any Republican could do" is just silly. If we had President Gore the reponse to 911 (if it had happened at all) would have been very different.
What you are setting up is a dynamic where whichever side loses gets mad and stays home and we end up with President Trump.
Warren could be Secy of Treasury no matter whether Bernie of Hillarty is at the top of the ticket. That could be part of the deal.
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