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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Bernie Sanders Wasnt Invited to CAPs Ideas Conference
In the battle over ideas in the Democratic party, its clear the moderates arent getting much quarter. This was on display at the Ideas Conference held Tuesday by the Center for American Progress, the central policy and personnel clearinghouse for Democratic administrations. Just before the event, the think tank released A Marshall Plan for Americaan ambitious jobs guarantee via a large-scale, permanent program of public employment and infrastructure investment.
The racially and gender-diverse main speakers ranged from the liberal to the very liberal. Senator Elizabeth Warren gave a strong lunch keynote demanding strong antitrust enforcement to break up concentrated economic power. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand extolled the necessity of paid family leave, Senator Cory Booker demanded universal health care, Senator Kamala Harris called for the total decriminalization of marijuana and the election of progressive prosecutors nationwide, Representative Keith Ellison called Trumps voter-fraud commission a scam and a set-up, and Senator Jeff Merkley demanded a green transformation of the energy economy that would put every coal electricity-generating plant into a museum by the year 2050.
Many of these speakers, particularly the ones gifted a keynote speaking slot, are widely rumored to be seeking the White House, and the mainstream media portrayed the event as a cattle call for 2020 candidates.
But there was an awkward absence: Senator Bernie Sanders. He was not invited to the Ideas Conference, and his exclusion makes clear that, while Democrats are converging around a general set of ideological principles, the party still faces some serious coalition-building problems.
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-bernie-sanders-wasnt-invited-to-caps-ideas-conference/
Ohioblue22
(1,430 posts)that that and he's not a dem
DavidDvorkin
(19,468 posts)arthritisR_US
(7,283 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)Dont call it a cattle call. Dont call it the CPAC of the left. On Tuesday morning, the Center for American Progress will host a daylong Ideas Conference its third, as CAP President Neera Tanden points out. Its just different from the last two in that at least 140 reporters have signed up to cover it, and theyre not shy about calling it a 2020 scouting session.
Were focused less on the politics of the moment and more on, Whats the alternative? Tanden said in an interview. I expect therell be some criticism of Trump, but we expect most of our speakers to provide a positive vision.
For much of its existence, CAP was designed to feed a future Hillary Clinton administration with staffers and ideas. (Former Bill Clinton chief of staff and 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was CAPs first president.) But Clinton is not on this years agenda. Neither is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and neither is former vice president Joe Biden.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/powerpost/wp/2017/05/15/possible-2020-democratic-presidential-hopefuls-gather-for-progressive-ideas-conference/
pnwmom
(108,955 posts)WellDarn
(255 posts)Connie_Corleone
(9,330 posts)He's not a Democrat.
Littlered9560
(72 posts)Seems some people have a hard time grasping that FACT.
Tom67
(40 posts)He is not a democrat and does not want to be.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)---EXCERPT-----------------------------------------------
But there was an awkward absence: Senator Bernie Sanders.
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Nothing "awkward" about it at all. It's only "awkward" if he (or others) feel as though he was ENTITLED to be there. Considering that he's a self-avowed "Independent" and that he's affirmed he's not a Democrat and has no intention of becoming a Democrat... then it's absolutely proper that he not be considered when making the invitation list.
All things considered, I'm happy with the choices that were made.