Bernie Sanders: Incompetent Campaigner

After the Democrat debate, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffey dropped out of the race, which left only Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley.  Thanks to Bernie announcing that he didn't care about Hillary's "damned emails," he took character off the table as a reason to choose between them.  If character is not an issue, then it comes down to policies.  Hillary and Bernie voted the same almost 80% of the time while they were in the Senate together.  Policy-wise, they are pretty close.  Since the debate, Hillary has made up lost ground.  In October, she was polling at 46% but has risen 10 points.  Sanders has also risen but only by 4 points to 31%.  O'Malley finally registers in the polls at a paltry 2%.  This according to the FOX News poll.

 

If Sanders is serious about winning the nomination (I don't think he is), he has to make the case that he is a better candidate.  With his views relatively close to Hillary's stated views, he needs to tack toward something that differentiates them.  Those 'damned emails' are a real scandal that has deserved far more attention than they have gotten.  However, if a Republican mentions them, it is instantly viewed as partisan and therefore discarded by Democrat voters.  Bernie could make a bipartisan case and deliver a serious hit on her ethics and honesty.  Sanders is essentially an isolationist as far as foreign policy, so he could make hay with Hillary's Libyan adventure.

 

"We Came, We Saw, He died."

Hillary Clinton on Muammar Gaddafi

 

She was proud of the intervention then, but in the aftermath of Benghazi, this is a monumental failure waiting for an opponent to exploit.  It is almost certainly going to come up in the Presidential Debates if Hillary is the nominee.  Sanders may as well use it, if only to prepare her for the inevitable attacks later.  After all, it was Al Gore who first used Willie Horton against Dukakis.  How about the Russian Reset; are things going swimmingly between us and Putin thanks to her smart diplomacy?  Maybe she can dump that disaster on Kerry.  Hillary was proud of the amount of miles she traveled during her tenure as Secretary of State; what is her legacy?  Treaties?  Ally-building?

 

Maybe her time as Secretary of State was unimpressive but she still has her time in the Senate.  She voted in favor of invading both Afghanistan and Iraq.  Of course, like many Democrats, she recanted on Iraq and voted against the 2007 Iraq surge.  Her most famous quote as Senator is probably this:

I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic, and we should stand up and say, "WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!"

I completely agree though I don't think she does.  Disagreement with Obama has too often been labeled as racism and disagreement with her is sexist.  In any case, the accomplishments in the Senate are not impressive.  I know of no legislation with her name on it (I count that as an achievement since I would rather not have new laws but her base disagrees with me) and her voting record is unremarkable.  Those votes for Afghanistan and Iraq are a big problem for the base but Bernie is letting them slide.

 

Hillary is a weak candidate.  She is such a weak candidate that a little-known senator in his first term was able to defeat her for the nomination in 2008.  In much the way Sanders is treating her now, she did not attack Obama despite some easy and obvious issues.  McCain opted to follow Hillary's losing strategy and, unsurprisingly, lost.  Now, Sanders is no Barack Obama but if he made an issue of Hillary's lack of achievement, her perceived untrustworthiness, and her scandals, he could eek out the nomination.  I don't think he'll do that, in which case I suspect he has already resigned himself to losing.  However, even in loss he can win influence.  Hillary parleyed her loss into Secretary of State.

 

I've seen a meme on Facebook that congratulated Sanders for dismissing the 'damned emails,' calling him a gentleman for it.  Sad to say, but gentlemen lose elections.  Bob Dole was a gentleman.  John McCain was a gentleman.  Mitt Romney was a gentleman.  Romney was savaged by the Obama campaign, made responsible for the death of a former employee's wife, painted as a bully for an incident from high school, falsely accused of not paying his taxes, and on and on.  Yes, it would be nice if elections had some sort of Marquis of Queensbury rules but they don't.  If you can't reply in kind, you're probably going to lose.  Of course, since Sanders is playing the gentleman and also losing, Hillary is content to have a 'civil' primary campaign.  But if the situation was reversed, Hillary would not let an email scandal or the like be ignored.