On Sanders, young voters have it right

Shake up the politics, don’t stir

When I heard Bernie Sanders was coming to Temple University in Philadelphia at the same time I was scheduled to hold my journalism class there, I gulped hard. I pictured myself staring into the void, chair after empty chair, barely a student to be found.

I did what any good teacher would do. I caved.

No, no, I’m being too harsh on myself. I pivoted would be more accurate. I postponed a test and instead required my undergrads to attend the rally, giving them the unique opportunity to train as journalists and hear a presidential candidate speak.

So I got to experience the phenomenon: a schleppy, white-haired 74-year-old senior-citizen rock star who filled a 10,200-seat Liacouras Center on less than 48 hours’ notice, creating a line over a half-mile long of individuals mostly under age 30. To me, the guy sounds like he should be leading my Passover seder, or at least what Larry David would sound like if he was leading my seder. But the message and the sincerity was clear, triggering one chant after another of “Ber-nie, Ber-nie.”

But I also saw a man on damage control. He was trying to recover after cratering Monday as the New York Daily News released the transcript of a meeting with its editorial board where he fumbled for answers on how to break up the big banks, handle imprisoning a terrorist leader, and navigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I like what Sanders has to say in general, yet with the New York primary less than two weeks away, he had shown a lack of command on a signature issue — the banks — and a gaping need for Foreign Policy 101 and associated remedial work.

Then I watched my students, whom I’d released from the “no cheering in the press box” rule after their crowd interviews were done, clapping and hollering for Sanders. “I think he just means what he says,” said Kevin Hayes, a junior. “Always consistent.”

I thought of my college-age son Tyler, proudly telling me he’d donated $5 for Sanders even though campaign donations were never something we’d ever broached before.

Yes, Sanders is Santa Claus, promising to fight for free college tuition, universal government-provided health care, and more, with the Tax Policy Center estimating a cost of $15.3 trillion over 10 years. All of this while attacking a broken campaign-finance system.

Even so, I realized, I’m with the young voters on this one. I want the ideals. Let’s see what part of the package Santa can deliver. Some of the package is better than none.

The Clinton legacy is one of dubious ethical boundaries and goes beyond her email server. Sanders calls for making Wall Street help pay for his massive spending plan after its culpability in the 2007 economic crash. Hillary Clinton talks the talk but accepted $675,000 for speeches to Goldman Sachs.

Clinton tacks to the center because it’s practical. She has a somewhat smaller education plan but one similar to Sanders’. But it arose in response to Sanders. Is it real or it will it die in the name of expediency?

I understand doubting the democratic socialist Santa. But smaller government landed us in the economy that gave rise to the outsider campaigns of Sanders and Trump. And it’s not as if individuals would get nothing in return for the Sanders tax hikes. Debt-free college and slashed medical costs would theoretically return much of the outgoing tax money into the pockets of the poor and middle class. I’d rather aim big and settle for something less than not try at all.

Unfortunately, my seeing it Sanders’ way coincided with realizing his campaign’s window of opportunity is probably going to close for good shortly. Sanders called Clinton not “qualified” after she insinuated as much about him based on the editorial-board fiasco. It was an escalation that signaled he knows he’s in trouble.

And he is. For example, Sanders told the newspaper that Israel killed more than 10,000 civilians in Gaza in 2014 — seven times more than implacable enemy Hamas has claimed. The man who stands to be the first Jewish president, though it’s only an afterthought in his case, also fumbled badly to describe what he felt should happen as far as Israeli settlements in disputed land.

For someone dependent on a large margin of victory in New York state, which has 1 million Jews in New York City alone, such unforced errors — and a stance seeming to hold Israel and the Palestinians equally culpable — could be enough to swing toward electoral defeat. Clinton has already aired a variation of the famous “3 a.m. phone call” implying her opponent isn’t ready to jump into action if a world crisis erupts. Rerunning that commercial seems like a no-brainer now for the Clinton camp.

Yet no candidate is without flaws. As the crowd roared his arrival last night, Sanders said, “This sounds to me like the sound of a political revolution.” These young voters certainly wanted one.

I’m tired of being practical and settling for Clinton even if her triumph seems inevitable. I’m going young.