Bernie Sanders Is Still Not a Democrat. He's Just the Party's Maestro.
09.13.17 1:00 AM ET
Excerpt:
The Democratic Party of today is wildly different from the one that existed when Obamacare was put together. It is, undoubtedly, far more progressive. Its elected ranks are also far smaller. Within this political context, support for Sanders’ bill has grown and the Overton window of the debate over health care has irrevocably shifted. Currently, the compromise proposals being proposed by Democrats are the progressive ideals that were scrapped during the passage of Obamacare—such as Sens. Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) and Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) proposals for Medicare buy-in measures.
“It moves the conversation more to the left, which you know puts pressure on Republicans to come up with an alternative,” Conrad said of Sanders’ bill. “And the alternative might be some variation on the status quo or some other alternative they so far have not been able to come up with.”
The question facing Democrats is whether the Sanders approach can help expand their ranks or shrink them. Republicans are already gearing up to capitalize on the Medicare for All push, though the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee—a group charged with electing Democrats to the Senate and supporting the party’s incumbents—brushed off those concerns.
“Look, I encourage everybody to support legislation that they think is important for the country. And everyone's going to be taking a close look at the proposals that are out there,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told The Daily Beast. “No, I don’t think it hurts the party’s chances. There are lots of ideas out there.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-is-still-not-a-democrat-hes-just-the-partys-maestro
