Norman Solomon on the Bernie Sanders campaign ...

[Donkees]

Joan Brunwasser, Senior Editor for OpEdNews and co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform, speaks with author, activist, and co-founder of RootsAction.org, Norman Solomon on the Bernie Sanders campaign, the state of the Democratic Party and the prospects of a progressive victory.

May 09th, 2019

Excerpt:


Joan Brunwasser (JB) | Welcome back to OpEdNews, Norman. We last chatted back in 2015, which seems like a very long time ago. I’d like to talk a bit about your recent piece, Bernie is Not a Wind Sock [3.25.19]. What did you mean by that?

Norman Solomon (NS) | Politicians who change direction with the wind aren’t dependable. We don’t really know where they stand if they’re willing to stand somewhere quite different when the political winds shift. Bernie Sanders is on another trip entirely. From him, instead of transactional behavior with elements of opportunism, we get long-term consistency with a core of idealism. During more than five decades, he’s been part of progressive social movements that are committed to really changing the political winds — not blowing with them.


JB | Another implicit criticism of Bernie is that he’s just another old, white guy. People claim that there are now so many legitimately progressive candidates running, there’s no reason to do the “same old, same old” all over again. It’s time for a [pick one or more] younger/female/person of color/LGBTQ” candidate. How would you respond to that?

NS | If Bernie were truly “just another old, white guy,” there’d be no reason to support him — but he’s light years away from “just another…” I would question the notion that “there are now so many legitimately progressive candidates running” for president. Bernie has a record of several decades that shows he’s the real deal as a genuine, strongly consistent progressive — which can’t be accurately said about any of his rivals for the nomination.

The Bernie 2020 campaign is part of an upsurge — represented by such new members of Congress as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — that is explicitly and emphatically grassroots in origin and progressive populist in outlook. That’s what Bernie is referring to when he talks about a political revolution. Having him at the top of the ticket could help to bring into office many candidates who are people of color AND authentically progressive.


https://www.mintpressnews.com/norman-solomon-whos-anti-bernie-sanders-why-they-are-wrong/258335/