This, reluctantly, is how I feel. If Sanders gets the nomination I will keep everything crossed for him, I just don't think the American electorate will vote in someone labelled Socialist.
I don't either, but I'm starting to hope. Republicans have controlled the agenda, perversely, with an anti-elite, anti-establishment message. It's driven most of us crazy, because it actually supports the elite and the establishment, and is supported by them.
Now there's a candidate who has a true anti-elite message. People haven't had the option to really be against the elite in forever. Most voters weren't even aware that option existed. And they really seem to like it. Why shouldn't they? Sanders is in favor of the many against the few. It's just possible the many can understand this--though certain the few will find ways to prevent their interests from being much damaged.
This is interesting. From a distance I don't see this - I see a Liberal President thwarted by a right wing Congress, but I'd be interested to hear why you say this. Free Healthcare, Gun Control are all Obama policies - what makes him to the right of Goldwater?
I gave a bit of a flip characterization. Obama has passed a number of pieces of legislation dear to the liberal agenda, especially universal health care. The problem is that the effect of his presidency has been W. by other means. He's carried on his tragic foreign so-called policy unchanged. He's also carried on the looting of the US by the rich, arguably upping the ante. With all due respect, it's not exactly free health care. It's the biggest scam in the history of the world, putting the previous scams by financial and defense interests firmly in the shade. The cost of my five minute skin cancer screening was $1200*. I know, I can't believe it either. Thanks to my health insurance, I was only billed $450. Those numbers translate to $24,000 an hour and $5500 an hour. My legally necessary health insurance, which is skyrocketing despite the fact that I never use it, amounts to a kind of tithe granted to the healthcare industry. You don't have to be a very good business person to make money charging $5500 an hour. Of course, my HMO has muscled its competitors out of the market to make it a local monopoly. Most appalling of all, it's a non-profit, which is legally obligated to provide public service, (a requirement it flouts). There is an argument that Obamacare will have to be followed by a single payer system, simply because the scam as it stands is so obscene. I doubt it. Obama's government has had the central effect of supporting the unprecedented looting of the United States by various rich interests, including big medicine, big education and the financial industry. He's farther right than Goldwater in the sense that there is nothing resembling a principal to be found anywhere in the important policies he supports. He's also to the right in being far friendlier to the rich than Goldwater ever was. He has been opposed by Congress both because they have an irrational hatred of Democrats in general and because W. part 2, which is what Obama is, does not jibe with their preferred vision of a Loony Tunes Cookoo for Cocoa Puffs Waiting for the Rapture Land America.
*(By way of contrast, an hour consultation resulting in a diagnosis of strep throat and mononucleosis and two prescriptions 25 years ago cost me $5. I had a cyst removed for a total of $90 at around the same time. Last year, I had God knows how much dental work, entailing maybe 15 visits, done for $4000--a very reasonable sum, all things considered, maybe $100 - $200/hour).
I will say in defense of Obama that I'm certainly glad to have my country represented by someone who is so intelligent, well-spoken and presentable. He makes a fine figurehead. I just wish he hadn't sold his soul.
Obama was elected on the slogan of "Change we can believe in." He has given us 8 years of continuity from the worst president in our history. Bit disappointing.
