Dancing With the Democrats

It has been very easy to cover the Republican Presidential race this election cycle because the field is so large and so colorful in their rhetoric that they are collectively the gift that keeps giving.

Now the Democratic race is truly interesting and heating up. Hillary Clinton has a big problem and his name is Bernie Sanders. Sorry Governor O'Malley but you are now irrelevant. A year ago Clinton was probably happy that so many potential Democratic Candidates were withholding their decision to run in anticipation of her believed inevitable announcement. Now I would bet she wishes a dozen had run and that the DNC had scheduled more debates. She's probably even sorry Joe Biden didn't run.

The inevitable candidate is once again in danger of being Obamaed.

Bernie Sanders is a serious candidate with the necessary grassroots movement to take the nomination away from Hillary Clinton. She didn't believe it at the beginning of last summer but she and her advisors believe it now. It is reflected in the aggressive attacks by her surrogates going out of their way to describe Sanders as a 74 year old socialist.

Clinton herself and her daughter Chelsea have made exaggerated statements that Sanders wants to get rid of Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. This is a scare tactic very similar to what was done by the Republicans to Bill and Hillary Clinton in the 1990's when they both allegedly believed in Universal Healthcare. They are implying that on day one of a Sanders Administration he would wave his hand and take away your healthcare. It's a complete fabrication and Clinton knows it. A President doesn't have that power, it requires Congress to change the laws. Bernie Sanders wants to fight for a single payer system, he wants Medicare for all and for this country to finally state uncategorically that healthcare is a right for all and not just a privilege for some.

In the 2008 Democratic Presidential campaign Hillary Clinton famously ripped Barack Obama a new one when he attacked her healthcare proposals. She said since when does one Democrat attack another Democrat for believing in Universal Healthcare. Clinton is now attacking Sanders for his belief in that very thing. The same belief held by F.D.R. and Harry Truman. She says Sanders wants to start from scratch and build a new system. That's not true because the system already exists, it's called Medicare. Clinton says she wants to build on the Affordable Care Act and reduce premium and drug costs for the consumer. We still have 29 million Americans without healthcare coverage.

Clinton is essentially saying it's too hard a lift and therefore shouldn't be pursued. Perhaps Sanders could not achieve his healthcare goals but he is thinking big and bold and that's why his events draw larger crowds than Clinton and why so many young people are drawn to his campaign. When did big and bold become unacceptable in politics?

Bernie Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist, he owns it, he doesn't back down from it. We are all socialists. Some are liberal socialists, some are conservative socialists but make no mistake, every time you drive on a road, turn on your lights, flip the water spigot, dial 911, cash your Social Security check or use your Medicare card you are a socialist. Only a person living alone on a mountain top living off land they don't own and never interacting with other people is not a socialist, they may also smell bad.

Hillary World should be very careful about their strategy on countering Sanders. The polls after all show he beats Trump by double digits and she by single. If she is the nominee she will need Sanders supporters.