hi nixkid,
Maybe Bernie has done a shitty job reaching out?
maybe. its certainly possible.
They also thought it would be a good idea to lecture black people about what is good for black people while completely dismissing what these young activists feel is important. And they did so with very crappy arguments like "Bernie marched for civil rights in the 1960s" as if an action done 50 years ago is relevant enough to earn a vote today. These were bad ideas.
if you want to discount Sanders' record on civil rights in the 50's and 60's, i find that kind of peculiar. if you're ignorant of his record, that's fine...but if you're aware of it and still dismiss it, that seems strange to me.
taking a stand on those issues during such a tumultuous time is what matters, just like taking a stand (the correct one) on the Iraq war in 2003 is what matters...not revising one's stance a decade later and offering a mea culpa.
at any rate, he's also opposed welfare reform in the 90's...been very critical of sentencing guidelines which have sent generations of black americans to prison...achieved a 97% rating from the NAACP in 2006...and endorsed Jesse Jackson in 1998.
Another issue is Bernie's stance on reparations. Its fine to be against reparations but his response to the question is simply dumbfounding. He says he's against it because it would be impossible to get through Congress.
that's not quite the whole story. here's Mr. Sanders on the issue of reparations;
No, I don’t think so. First of all, its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil. Second of all, I think it would be very divisive. The real issue is when we look at the poverty rate among the African American community, when we look at the high unemployment rate within the African American community, we have a lot of work to do.
So I think what we should be talking about is making massive investments in rebuilding our cities, in creating millions of decent paying jobs, in making public colleges and universities tuition-free, basically targeting our federal resources to the areas where it is needed the most and where it is needed the most is in impoverished communities, often African American and Latino.
where's Mrs. Clinton on reparations? where is President Obama...more to the point, where were they on this issue in 2008?
His entire platform is impossible to get through Congress so it comes off as hollow political doublespeak from a wavering politician that is too afraid to say that he is against it but also too afraid to say he supports it.
you're the first person i've ever heard describe Mr. Sanders as wavering.
that's interesting.
Most of what he's done since has been 90% pandering and 10% policy. Now the same can be said of Clinton but she's the presumptive nominee. If you want to pry votes away from the default choice then you have to give people a reason. He's done a wonderful job of that with young, white liberals but he's got some work to do with everyone else.
he's done a wonderful job with white Democrats who are under 40. i find it funny that so many pundits consider 40 "young". its the other side of middle age.
i don't know that i'd consider Mr. Sanders to be pandering...if so, his message has remained essentially unchanged for decades. Mrs. Clinton, though, has certainly found her left leaning roots over the past few months.
i don't know.
your post was forcefully written, but it really doesn't explain why so many black folks support Mrs. Clinton.
- IGIT
