Barack Obama Is Growing Anxious About Bernie Sanders

SCOOP: Dem Party sources who have spoken w @BarackObama say former prez is growing increasingly anxious about @BernieSanders rise in the national polls & where the avowed socialist would take the country; he is considering a public statement addressing it more now @FoxBusiness

— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) January 23, 2020

This morning’s NH Democratic Primary poll from @WBUR is going to get a lot of attention. It shows @BernieSanders moving into a big lead:

-Sanders 29%
-Buttigieg 17%
-Biden 14%
-Warren 13%
-Klobuchar 6%
-Yang 5%
-Gabbard 5%
-Steyer 2%

Sanders is +14 since December. pic.twitter.com/daLcFE7ScF

— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) January 23, 2020

In an alternate universe, Donald Trump would have governed as a “National Populist” president. Bernie Sanders would have faded and been remembered as an also ran in the 2016 election. Instead, Trump has spent the last three years doubling down on neoliberalism.

The Washington Post:

“On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton threw her first real punches of the 2020 primary.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that in a soon-to-be-released documentary, Clinton trashes her rival in the 2016 Democratic primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders, saying, “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, and he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.” In an interview about the program, Clinton confirmed that she still feels this way and declined to say whether she would endorse Sanders were he to be the nominee. …

High-level Democrats aren’t crazy to oppose Sanders, an Independent and a Democratic Socialist whose views differ significantly from those of many mainstream members of the party. But it’s not clear how they could stop him. Obama, Clinton and other Democrats might be able to sway voters with a well-timed endorsement, but beyond that, it’s hard to say what else they could do to take Sanders down.

The optimal move for Obama, Clinton and other Democrats might be to wait for results in Iowa and New Hampshire, assess whether Sanders has momentum and only endorse a rival if he looks like he’s taking off. If they endorse someone else earlier, it could backfire: Imagine the momentum Sanders would get if he beat Joe Biden or another establishment candidate after Democratic luminaries intervened in the race. …”

FOX News:

“Former President Barack Obama has remained mostly silent through the early stages of the Democratic race to unseat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election but that may soon change, friends and associates tell FOX Business, as avowed socialist Bernie Sanders gains in national polls and seems poised to obtain front-runner status.

The people who spoke on the condition of anonymity say Obama’s preference had always been to lay low through the primaries aside from making some broad comments as he did in November of last year when, according to a report in The New York Times, the former two-term president, best known for expanding the size of government and his eponymous health care mandate, appeared genuinely worried about some of the increasingly leftist proposals being touted on the campaign trail from Sanders, the US senator from Vermont, and to some extent, Elizabeth Warren, the US senator from Massachusetts.

“The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system to remake it,” the Times quoted Obama, who was speaking at a gathering of Democratic donors. …”

Of the three leading Democratic candidates, Bernie Sanders poses the biggest threat to Trump with White working class swing voters. A Trump vs. Sanders race would be interesting to watch on trade, entitlements, infrastructure, foreign policy and campaign finance. What is Trump going to do about student loan debt and health care? I can easily see the race being decided over these issues. It was health care that crushed the Republicans in Virginia.

In a Trump vs. Sanders race, Sanders would have to run on promising to dissolve the border in the primary. In contrast, Trump would have to run on increasing and changing the composition of legal immigration for business lobbyists. Sanders would spend the general election highlighting how Donald Trump is owned by the “billionaire class” and forcing him to defend his record. Trump would spend the general election attacking Sanders as a socialist to win suburbanites. It would be a much more interesting race than Trump vs. Biden or Trump vs. Warren.

In such a race, I couldn’t defend Trump mainly because I agree that he is owned by the “billionaire class.” Sheldon Adelson and his MIGA agenda is what is on the ballot. If Trump wins a second term with Charlie Kirk defining the MAGA movement, I see nothing coming out of it but possibly a war with Iran or entitlement reform. I don’t believe there has been any “realignment” of our politics. It is clear to me that Trump has spent the last three years reverting to mainstream conservatism which is a process that I am sure would accelerate in a second term.

Bernie Sanders vs. Donald Trump is the race we deserve.

Note: For obvious reasons, I am not supporting Bernie Sanders. I just think a Trump vs. Sanders race would be more interesting to follow whereas a Trump vs. Biden race would put me to sleep. I have no intention of voting for any of these people in November.