Member-only story
Bernie the Centrist?
It’s time to stop framing Sanders’ agenda as radical, and accept that the, “Moderates” are the radical ones.
“Bernie? He’s crazy!” A voter said to me a few months ago. After this voter, a middle aged working class black man, made this statement he expressed his opinions on the issues to me. He told me how he believes in universal single-payer healthcare, the enfranchisement of all incarcerated people, and raising the minimum wage. I agreed with him on every single one of those issues, and so does Bernie Sanders. Does that mean that we’re all crazy? Maybe. However, I think the broader lesson to pull from this situation is that there’s a huge disconnect between the perception that many voters have of Bernie and their perception of his ideas.
Part of this discord is a result of biased media coverage. Another part is the failure of the Sanders’ campaign to package their agenda better to make it more palatable with older voters. Super Tuesday has come and gone, and the Sanders campaign is at a clear crossroads. The race has narrowed down to just two candidates, Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden was able to sway many late deciding voters because they viewed him as the, “safe choice”. The question now is, how does Bernie turn the tide? The answer is that he needs to alter his approach a bit, and fine tune it to make older voters less weary.
