2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders Doesn't Have the Killer Instinct Needed to Beat Hillary Clinton
During the presidential debate, the candidate pulled back when he should have gone for the jugular.
By Jeet Heer
November 14, 2015
Bernie Sanders has set a high goal for himself. He wants to unleash nothing less than a political revolution in America that overthrows the power of big money. In pursuit of this goal, hes launched a highly energetic and lofty grassroots movement. But it could be that as a candidate hes a bit too lofty for his own good.
Signal
He is clearly more comfortable debating ideas than launching personal attacks. Throughout the second Democratic presidential primary debate, he performed an awkward dance where he drew a sharp contrast between himself and front-runner Hillary Clinton, but for the most part pulled back from landing a direct hit. Time and again, he tried to present his differences with Clinton in abstract terms, often refusing to name her explicitly as being at fault. For whatever reason, Sanders lacks the killer instinct you need to be a politician at the highest level.
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https://newrepublic.com/article/123853/bernie-sanders-doesnt-have-the-killer-instinct-needed-to-beat-hillary-clinton
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I actually like this quality of Bernie, but I thought this was a worthy topic to put up for discussion here.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)Is one of the problems of politics to begin with. The cutthroat, blood sport culture of politics is toxic. I'm glad he isn't using that instinct, or doesn't have it.
Finally, someone is being the change instead of talking about it. I think it can work in his favor, people are tired of conflict porn.
azmom
(5,208 posts)Did they want him to call her a corporate whore on national television?
He did awesome!
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)Because that's really propelled America forward and upward.
Just the term "killer instinct" is offensive to me.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)Overseas
(12,121 posts)He wants to be sure the Democratic party hears how many voters across the country are fed up with the status quo of Trickle Up Economics and want serious changes. He's showing the party how out of touch the so-called "New Democrats" are with the majority of the American people.
It is not a game for Bernie. It is a sincere attempt to bring the party back to more economic democracy.
But he doesn't want to bash Hillary so much that GOP PR professionals can jump in and encourage young purists to decide Hillary is just too corporate to get their votes and decide to stay home because "both parties are the same." Bernie knows that is not true. But both parties have ignored the needs of the middle class for too long.
He knows Hillary would do a lot more to address income inequality than any of the GOP candidates.
kacekwl
(6,993 posts)I see from the republicans daily and durring their debates. I want someone who is interested in solving problems in a rational not emotional way. Let the others engage in such nonsense.