2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Can Bernie Sanders Win the Love of a Party He Scorns? [View all]BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)He has NO friends in either chamber. Hillary Clinton, according the fivethirtyeight, has locked up the endorsements of 29 Senators so far, and over 90 House members.
Bernie Sanders has ZERO.
So, unless Bernie supporters get rid of those entrenched Dems in both Senate and House and get Green Partiers or other ultra-Liberal Senators and House members to take the majority, everything a President Sanders will try to do will fail. Again, he has NO friends in the Senate and House, and those are the people who he'll need to support his ambitious agenda.
Of course he'll fight for single payer, although I don't see how he'll succeed since he, as sitting Senator of Vermont, couldn't even get it implemented even with the HHS's approval to offer the waiver and give 80-85% funding via ObamaCare.
His judicial nominees will have to be vetted by the Senate. He can't just send them to SCOTUS without Congressional approval. How is he going to do that if he doesn't have any friends in the Senate?
Most of his cabinet members have to be approved by the Senate, too.
Yes, we all have problems with the two-party system, but without a Constitutional amendment allowing a parliament, this is how the system is.