2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: On what issue is Hillary better than Bernie? [View all]DanTex
(20,709 posts)That applies pretty much across the board. Single payer? No. Free college tuition? No. Etc.
The big thing for me is electability. I don't see Bernie being able to beat the Republicans in the general election. On policy, I generally like him more than Clinton (with exceptions), but since most of Bernie's more ambitious agenda won't be able to make it through congress, I don't think the difference in what legislation actually gets implemented will be very big.
Arguably, Clinton has more experience wrestling with the GOP, so one could make the case that she would be more effective in actually getting things passed. On the other hand, you could also argue that Bernie would be starting the negotiations from further left, which would mean better policies ultimately get passed after negotiations and compromises. I'm sort of ambivalent here, I can't say with confidence that one or the other would be better at fighting the GOP.
On edit: in addition to issues, there is also the question of priorities. Bernie has made it pretty clear that his top priority is income inequality, and it's fair to say that he would push harder than Hillary to make progress in that area. The thing is, you can't do everything at once. While a financial transaction tax would be more likely under Bernie than Hillary, I would say that a comprehensive immigration reform bill, for example, would be more likely under Hillary, if only because she would make it a higher priority.