"There's something insidious about making promises you can't keep"

[handmade34]

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/01/31/how-bernie-sanders-broke-the-democratic-primary/

...by running again and proposing many of the “boldest” but least viable plans in the Democratic field, such as arbitrarily cancelling all student loan debt, or implementing national rent control—both of which have tepid support even among Democratic members of Congress–he has shifted the debate of serious issues in an unserious direction.
Much like Donald Trump in 2016, Sanders is standing out in a crowded field by making promises he can’t keep. He’s not giving voters an honest assessment of how he will improve their lives. Like an airbrushed magazine model who makes real people look bad by setting an impossible standard of beauty, Sanders is harmfully distorting our view of other candidates by refusing to stick to reality...

Sanders is often praised for his honesty and authenticity. But in this respect he is actively misleading voters. Most of his promises depend on Congress to keep them. There is virtually no evidence that, even if he becomes President, he will have the votes necessary to enact any, let alone all, of these ideas. Critically, that isn’t just because Republicans are standing in the way—it’s because there is not enough support among Democrats either.
Less than one third of Senate Democrats have cosponsored Sanders’ Medicare For All bill. By contrast, 47 Senate Democrats have signed onto a constitutional amendment proposal to get big money out of politics. In other words, there is vastly more support among Democrats for amending the constitution than Sanders’ signature proposal. Similarly, Sanders’s bill for free college and debt relief, which was introduced by Pramila Jayapal in the House, has just eighteen cosponsors, less than ten percent of House Democrats...

Many of his proposals can’t withstand serious scrutiny, but they have a kind of lizard-brain appeal. By reaching voters who are hungry for change and want to support the biggest idea, whatever it is, Sanders is beating his opponents who are handicapped because they are trying to be more honest about what they can achieve...

...the more we elect candidates who are better at selling grandiose fantasies than at passing bills or getting things done, the less chance we have of solving our very real problems, or of restoring Americans’ faith in government. Literally anyone can get up on a stage and talk about how they are going to change the world. As voters, we must demand more than that and support candidates who pair an ambitious but realistic agenda with the ability to achieve it. Otherwise, we will continue to be let down by representatives who offer a vision of change they can’t actually fulfill.

[jberryhill]

1. That's the problem with the dumb way presidential campaigns work in this country

In civilized countries, the parties each have actual legislative programs that they are capable of implementing if they are elected to a majority. At the very least, majority coalitions of parties have a fair amount of detail that they are capable of implementing.

I will NEVER understand the sheer stupidity of the way that ALL presidential campaigns are run in this country.

NO candidate, upon being elected president, has the power to enact any legislative agenda whatsoever.

Now, in areas like foreign policy, executive branch priorities, certain aspects of federal law enforcement, sure, the president does have some sole power that can be wielded.

But this entire exercise of presidential candidates expounding detailed legislative proposals is utter bullshit intended for people who believe in the "magic wand" theory of presidential power, and has utterly nothing to do with how our system of government actually works.

So, ANY legislative proposal by ANY presidential candidate has all of the force and effect of the same legislative proposal they might make to the United States Congress as a private citizen right now.

I mean, good golly, several of the candidates are currently sitting US legislators. Take any proposal by any one of them and ask yourself, "Gee, have they submitted that as a piece of legislation right fucking now?" And if they haven't, then ask yourself why.

Sure, if they did it now, it wouldn't go anywhere, but guess what - once elected president they couldn't even introduce a go-nowhere bill, which is the power they wield right now.

[HarlanPepper]

4. And by the fourth year he loses re-election.

[HarlanPepper]

12. "You are completely out of touch."

Irony is dead.

[HarlanPepper]

14. I'll try to carry on.

[Hav]

17. By the second year,

we'll have historically bad midterms. The party in power often loses seats but if you make the most outrageous promises and you don't even come close to delivering them, people will be pissed.

[HarlanPepper]

19. Yeah

My hunch is at least 1/3 of his base would fully turn on him by that point. When you promise a lot of “free” you best deliver it.

[MrsCoffee]

18. 80 year old who just had a heart attack.

Are we really thinking re-election? I’m still wondering how he survives one term. I hope he stays healthy, but it’s brutal enough on a healthy young man.

[HarlanPepper]

20. Great point

[ehrnst]

8. So you think he will fail in getting his policies enacted - even convincing his own party to work

with him, and will need to call for a general strike. And people will do it, after seeing him being unable to even get Democrats to work with him?

That doesn't show much respect for his ability to get his promises into action.

Is that why you're still "undecided?"

[Ron Green]

3. "Promises you can't keep" is not the same as "Things we need to work for."

Learn the difference, and be glad that someone is saying these things and helping to move the needle.

[handmade34]

5. exactly what the article is saying

[squirecam]

6. Was this your opinion

When Trump said we should build a wall and have Mexico pay for it?

I remember democrats saying such a notion was absurd and wouldn’t ever happen.

[HarlanPepper]

7. Hmm sounds like incrementalism.

[Hoyt]

9. There are two candidates making promises they know they can't keep.

[DanTex]

10. It's hilarious that random anti-Bernie pundits say his proposals "can't withstand serious scrutiny",

at the same time that peer-reviewed journals like Lancet come out with studies showing that what Bernie is saying is correct.

Actually, it's the anti-Bernie editorials like this that couldn't withstand "serious scrutiny".

[LenaW]

15. Meanwhile, Biden has promised to cure cancer.

(Maybe this isn't the best argument coming from a Biden supporter.)

[oasis]

16. Wake up people. nt

[MrsCoffee]

21. Everything is free, vote for me!