Searching For Bernie (sanders)

  After months of debates and canvassing and phone calls and strategizing and a seemingly endless tsunami of talking heads & political analysis, it’s finally time to cast our votes here at home in the Maryland Democratic primary. In this episode, Caleb and I chat about Bernie’s campaign thus far... about seeing how the political sausage gets made... about the results in Maryland... and about the road ahead. Plus, an inspiring letter from a loyal listener... and a tiny bit of (fair-use) Springsteen.   Show notesPrimary results in Maryland“A movement, not just a campaign,” by Sue Prent in the Green Mountain DailyNPR Politics Podcast: Quick Take: April 26 Primary ResultsMusic beds: Semper Fidelis, by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra (via Free Music Archive); and We Take Care of Our Own, by Bruce SpringsteenTo rate & review this podcast on iTunes, please go HERE

 Paul Kirk is almost the definition of The Establishment (Democratic party division).  Mr. Kirk is the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1985-1989). He served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2009 to 2010, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy created after the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. Kirk has also served as chairman of the board of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and as co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates. That’s pretty Establishment. Which is why I was blown away that Paul Kirk endorsed Bernie for President.  Why is he backing Sanders? Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the current DNC in the tank for Hillary Clinton? And is democracy just too much damn work? Here’s my recent conversation with Paul Kirk:  Show notesPaul G. Kirk (Wikipedia)Paul Kirk endorses Bernie Sanders [VIDEO]Democratic National Committ

  Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, anti-war activist, and a world-renowned voice of the very progressive left. For more than half a century, Chomsky taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He’s the author of more than a hundred books, including Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media; Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies; and Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance.  Chomsky is now 87 years old, and although he has retired as a full-time professor, he’s still in big demand as a speaker, a writer, and a critic. In recent months he’s also said some nice things Bernie’s campaign for president.  So, on a whim last October, I sent him a

  When Democrats went to the polls in South Carolina about a week ago, they handed Hillary Clinton a huge victory. She won 74 percent of the vote to Bernie’s 26 percent, mostly because Hillary was the choice of most of South Carolina’s African American voters. And it’s Hillary’s ability to connect with African American voters — and with Latinos too — that’s become a key factor in this campaign, or so the political pundits keeps saying. To win the Democratic nomination, they tell us, requires the support of people of color, and Hillary has that support all locked up. But does she really? Do African American voters choose to support Hillary because she represents their interests? Does she “get” them in a way that Bernie doesn’t? Is Bernie unable to appeal to black voters because he’s a stranger from lily-white Vermont, while the folks in South Carolina know and still admire the Clinton

  On a Thursday night in January 2013, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the home of Erika Andiola in Phoenix, Arizona. Without a warrant, the agents arrested Erika’s mother and brother, put them on a bus, and began the process of deporting them back to Mexico. Hours later, in a panic, Erika posted a plea for help on YouTube.According to Erika, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) maintained dossiers on her whole family, partly because they were all undocumented, and partly because Erika was a high-profile immigration activist. As a founder of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition, Erika was (and remains) a very public and passionate voice supporting legislation to allow the children of undocumented immigrants to become documented. The good news is Erika’s mother and brother were released the day after they had been arrested. But the whole experience clearly wo

  This episode is just a few minutes long, but I didn’t want to wait until I produced another complete episode before I shared a special audio clip with you.It features a bit of insight from Robert Reich, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, and who now teaches public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. In roughly a minute, Reich distills the essential difference between the voters who support Hillary— and voters who support Bernie. It’s worth a quick listen.  Show notesRobert Reich & “The Big Choice for Democrats” [VIDEO]  

  After the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, Bernie Sanders already trails Hillary Clinton in the delegate count, 394 to 44. Which seems outrageous to a lot of people because Bernie tied Hillary in Iowa, and won big in New Hampshire. Why the massive delegate gap? It’s all about the superdelegates. Here, in a nutshell, is how it works: The Democratic nomination is a battle for a majority of the 4,763 delegates who will attend the party convention in Philadelphia this July. Roughly 85 percent of those delegates are selected in the caucuses and primaries we’re in the midst of right now. But the other 15 percent — that’s 712 delegates, if you’re scoring at home — are the superdelegates. They are unpledged delegates who are not bound by election results. Instead, they vote for whichever candidate they prefer. So, who are these superdelegates? Members of Congress… party officials

  On a cold weekend afternoon last February, my son Caleb and I were searching for a good movie on Netflix. And we ended up watching a documentary called Inequality for All.The star of the documentary is Robert Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor during the (Bill) Clinton administration, and who now is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. In the film, Reich sketches a rather frightening portrait of how income inequality is crippling our economy and our nation. But what makes Reich’s argument so riveting is not its moral clarity, but its practicality.  Put another way: Reich doesn’t simply insist that the growing gulf between rich and poor is unfair or wrong or unjust (although he certainly says all those things). What he emphasizes is that econ

  This past Monday in Iowa, the 2016 election season finally began in earnest with actual voters casting actual votes.  As my son and I watched the whole thing unfold from our home in Maryland, we felt like we were missing the Main Event. As I’ve mentioned with monotonous regularity on this podcast, Caleb and I spent a week in Iowa last August just outside Cedar Rapids, where we volunteered in one of Bernie’s field offices. We made phone calls. We knocked on doors. We did what we could to help the full-time campaign staffers get the word out about Bernie. And now the time had finally come... but we weren’t there to see what actually happens at a precinct caucus. So, I called up a few people who were there: Kathryn Stack, Rhonda Shouse, and Jennifer Herrington. They provide some vivid snapshots of what happened on Monday night... what’s wonderful about Iowa’s caucuses... and what

  I’ve been a longtime admirer of Michael Dukakis, first when he served as Governor of Massachusetts (where I grew up), and later when he became the Democratic party’s nominee for president in 1988.My memories, though, are less about his policies, and more about him personally: Dukakis always struck me as a decent, upstanding guy. When Gov. Dukakis endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, I can’t say I was surprised. Almost all of the party’s leaders have backed Hillary, but I still haven’t heard a convincing explanation of why.So, on a lark, my son Caleb and I wrote to the Governor, and asked for an interview. And being the decent, upstanding guy that he is, the Governor accepted. We talked about Bernie and Hillary... campaign finance reform... lessons from the 1988 presidential campaign... negative advertising... Elizabeth Warren... and lots more. I hope you enjoy listening to

  Over the past eight months or so, I’ve learned a lot about what Bernie Sanders thinks about the economy, health care, campaign finance reform, and lots of other issues. That’s because Bernie is basically an issues guy. He likes talking policy.But I keep wondering how that’s going to wear with voters over the long term, especially when the public often seems hungry for personality and emotion and story. Call it the politics of personal narrative — a world where a political candidate’s life story becomes the keystone of his or her campaign.  Problem is, Bernie doesn’t seem to enjoy baring his soul. Whenever he’s pushed into talking about, say, his childhood in Brooklyn, or his parents, or his early days in Vermont — well, you can see Bernie gagging a bit. He hates that stuff.

  In 2004, journalist Bill Moyers interviewed Elizabeth Warren about the financial struggles of the middle class, especially the growing burden of household debt: Between 1990 and 2004, household debt doubled, from 4 trillion to 8 trillion dollars.  At the time of Moyers’ interview, Warren was not yet a leader of the Progressive movement, not yet a U.S. Senator, and not yet a key player in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warren was still teaching at Harvard Law School, and had just published a book called The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke.   Warren is her usual articulate and passionate self on Moyers’ show. But the key part of the interview (for me, anyway) was when Warren describes two encounters with Hillary Clinton. The first came in the late 1990s, when Clinton was still the First Lady. The second came a few years l

  In this episode you’ll hear from three people. Lyn DeWitt, a longtime friend of mine, is an ardent feminist and a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. You heard Lyn in Part 1 of this mini-series, and you’ll hear the same clips of Lyn in part 2. This time, though, the rebuttal to Lyn will come from her 20-year-old daughter Anna Kelly. She’ll respond to her mother’s arguments about why Hillary should be the Democratic nominee. Anna does a wonderful job of explaining why millennials have found a kindred spirit in a rumpled, 74-year-old democratic socialist from Vermont. The third voice in this episode comes from… well, let’s just say a surprise guest. Call her a pundit with decades of political experience — a pundit you’ve never heard from... until now.   Before you click play, I gotta say this about Anna Kelly. Not only is she bright, articulate, and well-informed — bu

  In this episode (and the next one), we explore the women’s vote, and the gender gap — or lack of one — between Hillary supporters and Bernie believers.  Put another way: I’ll be asking why some women think that putting a woman in the White House is Priority Number One, while other women have decided that gender loyalty matters far less than the candidates’ policy positions.  You’ll hear from Jenni Siri, one of the co-founders of Women for Bernie Sanders. The group has about 50,000 members on Facebook, a website overflowing with information and resources, and a national network of state chapters all dedicated to Bernie’s campaign.You’ll also hear from Lyn DeWitt, a longtime friend of mine who is a champion of women’s rights and an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton. In part 2, you’ll hear from Lyn DeWitt’s daughter Anna, who, unlike her mom, is a big Bernie supporter. Ann

  Is the Democratic National Committee intentionally sidelining Bernie Sanders to prevent him from winning the Democratic nomination?Or to put it more bluntly: Is the DNC in the tank for Hillary Clinton?That question has been bouncing around for a while. It popped up over the summer when the DNC announced there would be only six officially sanctioned debates, which means a challenger like Bernie has relatively few opportunities to introduce himself to a national TV audience.And the timing of the debates has been an issue too. For instance, the third debate was last Saturday — a weekend night, only six days before Christmas. To no one’s surprise, it was the least watched debate of the 2016 election cycle.Questions about the DNC putting its finger on the scale for Hillary Clinton popped up again last week, when someone leaked a story about the security breach of the DNC’s voter database. Now, I don’t

  In this episode, I’ll be sharing part 2 of my interview with John Lee Dumas.As you may remember from part 1 (Episode #13), John is the host of Entrepreneur on Fire, which is one of the most popular business podcasts on iTunes. It’s also one of the most profitable: John and his partner Kate Erickson are making a fortune running what’s become an online empire that’s built around his podcast about the entrepreneurial life.  In fact, so far this year, John and Kate have a net income of more than $2.7 million dollars, which doesn’t even include December. It’s amazing.   Now, if you’re wondering why I’d interview a wealthy podcasting guru for a podcast about Bernie Sanders — well, there’s a good reason. John Lee Dumas is just the latest in a long line of self-help coaches that includes guys like Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, and too many others t

  Listen to Bernie Sanders, and you hear, loud and clear, what ails our economy: declining wages, income inequality, the vanishing middle class.To Bernie, the cause of these problems is simple: Our economy and our political system are rigged against the little guy, who is getting crushed as the top one percent run off with all the money.  Listen to Republicans, though, and their diagnosis is entirely different. For them, the bogeyman is The Government, which gets in our way, curtails our freedom, and snuffs out America’s entrepreneurial spirit.  This disagreement, I think, is mostly rooted in a broader question, which is: Are the economic problems we face caused by structural weaknesses in our economy? Or are they causeby the character flaws of individuals?Put another way: Have these problems emerged because things like technology, globalization, and deregulation have funda

  Yesterday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced that he was dropping out of the race to become the Republican nominee for president. When I heard the news, I thought: Wait! That’s not what Bobby told me he was going to do!  But I’m getting ahead of myself. You see, back in August, my son Caleb and I spent a week in Iowa working for Bernie’s campaign. On our day off, we drove to Des Moines to take in the Iowa State Fair. During presidential election years at the Fair, the Des Moines Register runs something called the Soapbox, where candidates can deliver their stump speeches and answer questions from the crowd. On the day Caleb and I visited the Fair, Bobby Jindal was on the Soapbox. Here’s a short dispatch:  

  It’s the economy, stupid.That phrase was coined in 1992 by James Carville, who was then the campaign strategist for presidential candidate Bill Clinton. But those words could just as easily be the slogan of Bernie’s campaign, too.  From income inequality to the minimum wage to the vanishing middle class — economics is central to Bernie 2016.   I majored in economics as an undergraduate, and so I’ve been wondering:  What would my former economics professors say about Bernie’s ideas? How does democratic socialism fit into the (neo)classical economic model that champions the free market? I graduated from Wesleyan University way back in 1981. So it came as no surprise that when I looked at the website of Wesleyan’s economics department, almost all the familiar names were gone, except one: Richard Adelstein. When I saw his name, two thoughts popped to

  Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, once said that “you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose.”Listening to Bernie on the stump, he’s mostly prose. He outlines the issues clearly. He speaks to those issues forcefully. But it’s hard not to think that most of the time, Bernie is angry — and with good reason. Income inequality. Childhood poverty. Citizens United. The list of things to be angry about is pretty long.But I often wonder if Bernie’s rhetorical style will help him or hurt him in the long run. Will his anger — and his monotone delivery — will they get Bernie where he wants to go? And: Will Bernie’s apparent unwillingness to tell personal stories about himself and his parents and his past — the whole politics as personal narrative approach — can Bernie run a political campaign at the national level without publicly getting in touch with his feelings? On