Sanders plans to push his agenda
Post in which he said he considers the goals of the Democratic platform, which he helped shape during the party’s July convention, to be promises that need to be kept.
He said it will be his job “to demand that the Democratic Party implement that platform.”
Mr. Sanders told the Post he already is plotting legislation on proposals that drove his surprisingly strong presidential run, including a $15 federal minimum wage, tuition-free public college, ending “mass incarceration” and aggressive steps to fight climate change.
He also wants to break up “too big to fail” banks and see Ms. Clinton appoint liberals to key Cabinet positions, including treasury secretary. If he sees the “same old, same old Wall Street guys” nominated to regulatory positions, he said, “I will be vigorously in opposition, and I will make that very clear.”
That’s just fine with those who supported Mr. Sanders during the primaries.
“Absolutely, we expect her to follow through,” said Brandon Evans, director of Pennsylvania Working Families, the Philadelphiabased group that originally endorsed Mr. Sanders. “Whether it’s minimum wage, sick days, work around the environment, all these things. Bernie was championing these issues that we had long been working on. Then, post-primary and into the convention and to the platform, we’ve endorsed Secretary Clinton because we believe she’s more in line with our values.”
But how realistic is it for elected officials to dig in their heels?
Political parties have been spelling out their goals in platforms since the Democrats nominated Martin Van Buren in 1840, but the wish lists are usually pieced together by relatively like-minded people in convention cities far from the rough reality of getting things done in Washington, D.C. Some presidents have famously ignored or even opposed some of their own party’s platform planks.
Progress, according to Terry Madonna, a pollster and political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., is born out of compromise.
“Different administrations have had varying amounts of success at accomplishing their goals,” Mr. Madonna said. “Some presidents have been pretty successful in their first term. But Bill Clinton, for example, had a very rough first two years. John Kennedy did practically nothing in the three years before he was killed. Who implemented [his goals]? Lyndon Johnson, after he was elected in 1964. So in 1965 you get Medicare, Medicaid, voting rights.
“First, most presidents work hard. They do want to get their agendas passed. But, No. 2, they have to pick and choose what items they can get through Congress. And No. 3, do they control Congress or not?
“Bernie’s going to push his agenda. But even if he gets some things through the Senate — and you have to remember the 60-vote filibuster rule makes that difficult — on what planet do you think the House of Representatives is going to go for a $15 minimum wage, singlepayer health care or free college education? The Republican members, not only would they be in trouble in their own districts, but they believe in opposing these things. ”
It is unlikely that the winner of next month’s election will be able to get Congress to simply do his or her bidding.
“The problem is the deeply rooted polarization that exists,” Mr. Madonna said. “Members of Congress literally represent independent sovereign domains and don’t have to worry about anything outside their districts. They do what they want, they reflect the will of their electorate, and they’re doing exactly what the people that elected them want them to do. There’s no party pressure on them in their districts.
“Compromise has become one of the nastiest words in the political dictionary. This is the most ideologically split period we’ve seen probably since the 1930s. Americans are deeply divided with each side having a very high unfavorable opinion of the other.”
Yet Mr. Sanders embraces the combative approach.
“It’s not good enough for me, or anybody, to say, ‘Well, look, Republicans control the House: From Day 1, we’re going to have to compromise,’” Mr. Sanders told the Post. “The Democratic Party, before they start compromising, has got to rally the American people around our ideas and make it clear that if Republicans do not go along with reasonable ideas to benefit the middle class and the working class, they are going to pay a very heavy political price.”
Mr. Evans stressed that the elected representatives aren’t alone in this battle.
“Voting is part of it, but as we take our agenda to the ballot box, we continue to push,” he said. “We know we have to support candidates down ballot, so we can continue to push a progressive agenda.
“It’s not like a football team handing the ball off and expecting one person to do the job, in this case an elected official. It’s not just one person’s job and you say, ‘OK, here it is, you do it from here.’ Sometimes, the ballcarrier gets to the goal line and the team has to push him over the top.”