At 74, US Senator Bernie Sanders is this year’s Democratic phenomenon in the White House race, urging the US public to launch a “political revolution” against billionaires and elites — including his chief party rival, former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.
A substantial slice of US voters are frustrated with how Democratic leadership — nearly seven years into the administration of US President Barack Obama — has bumped up against the hard limits of political power, especially under a Republican-led Congress.
They claim that reducing inequality is a matter of leadership and political will — and the jettisoning of a political class that is beholden to special interests.
Photo: AFP
Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, is no newcomer to politics: he served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, from 1981 to 1989, and has been entrenched in US Congress for nearly a quarter-century.
However, to his supporters, who gathered by the thousands on Monday night in a field in Manassas, Virginia, about an hour from Washington, “Bernie” is a new kind of candidate, financed by small donations and not checks from mega donors, according to several people interviewed by reporters at the campaign stop.
“I’m just tired of business as usual, the status quo with politicians. They’re all bought by big banks and lobbyists,” said 29-year-old student Alissa Rodley, who acknowledged she was attending her first-ever political rally. “Hillary Clinton is very status quo. She is paid for by a lot of the big banks.”
Democrats who back Sanders say they do not dislike Clinton. Some of them even supported her in her 2008 presidential quest. However, after her 20 years in Washington, they doubt Clinton’s loyalty to the cause and criticize her apparent willingness to put deal-making and political modulation above adherence to progressive goals.
While she remains the frontrunner, her poll numbers have slumped amid lingering suspicions about her use of a private e-mail server while serving as US secretary of state.
A gay couple arriving to hear the Sanders campaign pitch recalled how it took Clinton until 2013 to back same-sex marriage.
“It’s more that it’s in vogue,” said Galen Tim, 22, a violinist who was quick to note that Sanders opposed the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays from openly serving in the US military.
When Clinton talks about reaching out to Republicans, fans of Sanders balk, while buying US$20 T-shirts that urge people to “join the political revolution.”
The villains? Big banks, Wall Street and their fat cat patrons.
“We are the 99 percent, and it’s time we take power away from the 1 percent,” said Sanders, an avowed democratic socialist. “I am sending a very simple straightforward message to the billionaire class, and that is: You cannot have it all.”
His campaign speech is a series of warnings to Wall Street, lobbyists and the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, mixed with support for tax hikes on the wealthy, tuition-free college and paid leave for workers.
For Dave Jennings, 65, the Sanders revolution sounded like a pipe dream at first, but he now takes it seriously.
A longtime Obama fan, the nearly retired government contractor is disappointed that the current administration has not been able to jail many Wall Street executives after the financial crisis.
“Bernie might not be able to go after them either, but at least he’s going to try, and make some noise about it,” Jennings said.
“I like the idea of wealth redistribution,” Manassas housewife Deby Chapman said. “He’s not afraid to put it out there.”
To demonstrate that anything is possible, Sanders is one of the only candidates who dares compare his country to the rest of the world. He lamented that the US imprisons more people than China, and deplored that his is the only developed country without broad paid maternity leave.
His pointed critiques have earned praise, but Clinton too has offered detailed proposals on several issues dear to Democratic Party faithful, including on middle class expansion, family values, immigration and campaign finance reform.
However, Sanders supporters assert that the nomination race is about authenticity, not a policy competition.
They also dismiss concerns about age. Sanders is the oldest candidate in the race, Democrat or Republican, and is six years older than Clinton, who turns 68 next month.
After 80 minutes of stump-speaking and hand-shaking, Sanders appeared relieved to get back to his car.
Nothing to worry about, insisted Rodley: “He has the vigor of a 25-year old.”
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS