Why it's important for all politicians to visit devastated areas.

[NCTraveler]

It brings them to a point of better perspective. Some can come close to reaching that perspective without physically being there, others need to see it first hand.

This is a quote from Sanders yesterday. Just reading about it wasn't enough for him to understand the devastation. He had to be there.

"I obviously have read the newspapers, and have been somewhat involved in the issue, but I really did not know how ugly, how horrible and how terrible what is going on there is."

That is a direct quote from Sanders after his visit with families from Flint.

[Bonobo]

1. And still some can go and yet not get it.

How can we gaze into the souls of people when we barely know our own?

[NCTraveler]

3. "How can we gaze into the souls of people when we barely know our own?"

As I said, some can't put it into perspective just by reading. I don't buy that everyone has to "gaze into the souls of people" in order to understand the depth of the problem and pain.

“I just talked to a mother who said that she has a kid who was very bright in school. In the last two years, she has seen her child’s ability to do school work markedly deteriorate. Can you imagine being a mother, seeing your own baby’s, you own child’s intellectual development deteriorate in front of your very eyes? That is happening all over that city.” Sanders

Many of us who have been reading about this have an understanding of what is happening and how devastating it truly is. We were aware before yesterday of the mental aspects with respect to developing youths. We have known it is happening all over Flint.

It's great he visited. It clearly changed his perspective. Good on both of our candidates. They are on the right side of the fight.

[Bonobo]

4. That's not what I meant.

Actually what I really meant to express is my own incertitude about judging whether or not a particular person "gets" something or not.

In the case of Bernie, I use my own intuition. My "sense" reading this quote is that he "gets' it and that his expressing how deeply he was moved -so that he felt it more deeply upon seeing it- was a heartfelt expression of a person that really does "get it".

As for Hillary, my sense, my intuition tells me that she doesn't get poverty and troubles of the regular people at the level of Bernie.

BUT BUT BUT... I don't know. It is a personal judgment and like I said "how can we know the soul of another when we barely know our own.".

That's what I meant to convey.

[CoffeeCat]

2. When I read this quote, I thought of my friend

who lost her husband in a plane crash. She had 4 kids under the age of 7 and was 5 months pregnant. She told me that so many people, who meant well, repeatedly told her that they understood her pain. She understood that people sometimes don't know what to say, but she told me, "These people have absolutely no understanding of my pain. They never can."

That's what I thought of when I read Sander's quote. He's telling them that he could never experienced the horrors as they do--but that he is there and that he cares. I mean, how could someone possibly fully grasp what it is like to know that your child is poisoned and forever damaged because our government was too lazy and corrupt? We can empathize, but we can't fully understand what they are feeling.

I imagine that many of the moments that Sanders had with these Flint residents, were very private. Similar to moments that Clinton had with them, if she met with them personally. Similar to moments that Obama has had with victims of tragedies.