Lets be clear about Bernie vs Hillary

[brett_jv]

237. No offense brother but you're not thinking it through all that deeply ...

Or maybe I should say, you're thinking about it TOO deeply.

Obama is extremely charismatic, brilliant speaker, very handsome, has a beautiful family (not that Bernie does not), was AMAZING at making people feel good about themselves, and made people feel good about 'the future' under his Presidency ... without naming any real specifics about how he'd do it, nor supporting anything remotely challenging to the status quo. Not to mention the 'elephant' ... the reality that a lot of people would vote for him because he's black. Not taking away from him, but it is a fact. We all know it is.

If you think Obama won in 2008 purely on the strength of a rising tide of progressivism ... I have to wonder how close you've been paying attention to events on the ground. Obama won re-election in 2012, yes, but since 2008, we Dems have been losing ground ... seats in the US Congress, State Congresses, and Governorships. I'm not seeing much evidence of a radical swing to the Left in this country apart from increased support for Same Sex Marriage and reformation of MJ laws, and slightly higher approval ratings for the ACA (which is hardly properly called 'liberal'), to be honest.

We (meaning us progressives) spent 6 years in teh political wilderness (of course in part due to the 'help' of the SCOTUS ... but they didn't give the GOP both Houses of Congress, did they?) from 2000-2006 because we didn't have us another Bill Clinton ( a man who, let's face it, shares quite a lot in common with BHO) waiting in the wings ... instead we had Al Gore. And what should have been a rousing victory for Dems in 2000 given the success of the economy under Clinton in the latter part of the 1990's ... gave way to a decision close enough for the SCOTUS to steal it from us.

I think it's misguided to think that Bernie (or hell, Hillary for that matter) can win in 2016 simply on the basis of the 'foreshadowing' of BHO in 2008. That was a very different situation (in part because everyone saw the economy TANK under GWB right before the election) and a very different candidate ... from 2016, with Hillary or Bernie.

Whichever of them runs is going to have to become a LOT more likeable to the common man, and charismatic in their demeanor and speaking style ... or someone like Jeb Bush is going to clean their clock. As WRONG as it f***ing is ... POTUS isn't won on ideas, it's on 'who the average Joe would prefer to sit down and have a beer with'.

I want Bernie to be POTUS ... DESPERATELY ... but I'm also a realist. As are probably the large majority of people on DU who are skeptical as to whether or not he can actually win. No amount of dissing of people like myself are going to change our minds.