11 Short Doable Suggestions for Sanders to Win Sunday’s Debate
March 14 — The world is in a pandemic crisis. Global economic prospects have been sharply lowered. Stock markets have had an extremely volatile deep decline.
As the New York Times titled an article this morning about Sunday night’s debate, “Throw Out the Debate Playbook: Biden and Sanders to Clash Amid Crisis,” writing:
“Both men will be auditioning for the presidency amid an unfolding national emergency over the coronavirus; the last candidates to debate in such urgent circumstances were Barack Obama and John McCain during the 2008 financial crisis.”
Below are my suggestions of what Sanders should and can do in the debate to regain the momentum he had just before the February 29 South Carolina primary, when he was the front runner for the nomination.
Following Biden’s win there, the entire Democratic establishment started falling over themselves endorsing him, since just before Super Tuesday on March 3. After that day, corporate media and political pundits have all but handed Biden the Democratic nomination.
Let’s hold off on that until after Sunday’s debate and Tuesday’s primaries. Biden has gone from near the bottom to the very top almost overnight in the Democratic primary forecast chart from FiveThirtyEight. Mainstream political pundits say there has never been anything like this, especially since Biden had weak organizations on the ground and little money in many of the states he won. Very few pundits saw that coming, just like very few saw Trump’s win in 2016.
Before South Carolina, Biden had never won a single primary in his three tries at the Democratic nomination, and he did not become a political superman overnight on February 29. Obviously the political situation has been extremely fluid. Perhaps it can change again, just as rapidly, especially in the context of the Covid-19 global pandemic crisis, declining global economic prospects, and the wildly fluctuating stock market.
Voters who recently bought the Biden brand won’t return it just because of a few more of his trademark gaffes, which the Democratic establishment are praying will be minimal Sunday night, more likely rationalizing their new choice as just good ol’ Joe being himself, just like Trump’s voters put up with far worse from and about him in 2016.
Sanders must give Biden’s voters a reason to have buyer’s remorse, with a better, improved version of himself as a true national leader in time of crisis. Sanders must channel his justifiable anger to have the debate performance of his lifetime. Here are my eleven suggestions to Sanders on how to do that.
1) Strongly address the Covid-19 crisis. This extremely unfortunate but very real issue, including Trump’s incredibly insensitive bungling of it, is custom-made for Sanders. Medicare for All (M4A or MFA) is ultimately what this crisis needs. But in the meantime, there must be an urgent and greatly expanded government response. The crisis highlights decades of neglect of our health care system and of gross inequality in access to health care, culminating with Trump saying on Friday, “I don’t take responsibility at all” for the testing fiasco. Americans shouldn’t have to choose between their health, their jobs and income. In worst case scenarios, the crisis will overwhelm our healthcare system. We can not, must not, allow that to happen, and we have the means to prevent it. This is a national emergency, like a war, funding is NOT an issue.
2) Don’t let the moderators ambush you on Medicare for All and taxes. The current U.S. health care “system” is extremely costly, inefficient, and inequitable, that is simply undeniable. Most Americans will see their total medical expenses lowered as a percent of income with M4A, since overall U.S. health care spending as a percent of GDP, currently around 18–19%, will go down to levels closer to most developed nations, which is 10–12%. Employees with so-called private insurance, which is actually tax subsidized, will get higher wages from their employers who will no longer be forced to pay exorbitant insurance premiums, making American businesses more competitive. Doctors will be relieved from the burdens of endless insurance paperwork that causes burnout so they can focus on what’s right for their patients, not for insurance company profits.
3) Be presidential. The main thing Biden has going is being viewed by Democratic voters as an “electable” regular Joe, especially compared with Trump, whom they consider to be a detestable pathological liar, narcissistic bully, at best. Much of the country does not want a “revolution,” it desperately wants and needs leadership it can be proud of, not constantly embarrassed by and fearful of. Sanders must present himself Sunday night as that type of leader, strong, calm, thoughtful, compassionate, with gravitas. Look straight into the camera and speak directly to the American people. Stand erect, keep your hands on the lectern, limit your arm waving. Don’t let the moderators control the debate, no one elected them, they’re corporate media, which is mostly not on your side.
4) Reach out to African-Americans. Biden’s momentum was built on overwhelming support from African-American voters, a significant portion of the Democratic electorate and delegates, first in South Carolina, then in other state primaries, based on his identification with Obama. Sanders must chip away at that by showing that his programs are actually much more in their economic self-interest than Biden’s. This includes M4A, minimum wage, tuition free college, child care, and affordable housing to build black wealth. Mention that you’ve been supporting African-American causes your entire life, you attended MLK’s historic March on Washington in 1963.
5) Reach out to white workers. This is a big key to expanding the Democratic base and winning the Electoral College. Ever since “Reagan Democrats,” culminating in Trump winning key midwest swing states in 2016, white workers have voted against their own economic self-interest, pushed in that direction by Democrats pushing neoliberal financialization/globalization while turning away from their previous strong base in the industrial unions toward “identity politics,” e.g. Clinton’s “deplorables” comment in 2016, and pulled the same way by the right’s “culture wars,” which together have sliced and diced the American public for decades. Sanders must appeal to these workers on bread-and-butter economic issues, especially trade and unionization, making a strong contrast with Biden. Sanders should evoke an earlier era when blacks and whites were united together in strong unions, before Reagan’s GOP, Wall Street and corporate America busted their unions and shipped their jobs out of the U.S., decimating their communities, leading to the opioid crisis and other social ills.
6) Reach out to suburban women. Biden has also been strong with this demographic, the upper-income level of which identify with Clinton, Pelosi, and Warren. Millions of these women passionately despise Trump, they view him as a deep personal affront, and came out in droves in the 2018 election to give the Dems the House, and are doing so again in the Dem primaries, much more so than younger voters. They view Sanders as a threat to keeping the House and not winning the Senate. He must try to convince them that he is “electable,” that the Covid-19 crisis makes him even more so. He should promise during the debate to put a woman on his ticket as Vice President who will be his strong partner and that he will step down in 2024 to make way for her. He should also promise to have many women in key positions in his administration. Sanders must appeal to this demographic less on economic self-interest and more on social issues, especially Roe v. Wade, gun control and immigration. Disavow hostile actions of a few online supporters toward Warren, a fellow progressive, who hopefully will endorse you if you have a strong performance Sunday before this Tuesday’s primaries.
7) Keep hope alive for your movement. As shown in all the primaries, Sanders has very strong support among voters under 35, the future of this country. He must strongly appeal to them to get out and vote, their turnout has been disappointingly low, if they truly want to change the world and have a better future. He must keep their hopes alive, so that even if he doesn’t get the nomination, the torch will be passed to a new generation of progressive leaders. In addition to tuition free college, he should address the inability of young people to buy homes and get on the wealth track of their parent’s generation, which had the benefit of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac “socialist” support of the mortgage market.
8) Reach out to older voters. Sanders seems too radical to this age group, which has gotten more conservative with age. But this group also still fondly remembers MLK, JFK and RFK of your shared youth. Sanders should evoke those memories, and say he is in the New Deal/Great Society tradition of FDR, the tradition that gave them Social Security, Medicare, low-cost college and affordable mortgages. Shouldn’t their children and grandchildren deserve the same? He should also evoke JFK’s space race, one of their proudest memories, to renew America’s technological leadership in its global competition with China.
9) Treat Biden with respect. A lot of voters have just invested their identity with Biden, despite his obvious shortcomings. He should be treated with respect, which shouldn’t be hard to do, it is common courtesy on the Senate floor. That doesn’t mean giving him a free pass on his voting record, but do so with respect. Don’t get angry or exasperated. Show your goodwill toward Biden, and flash your warm smile once or twice. Reagan had a great knack for disarming his presidential opponents with a smile and a joke, ask Carter and Mondale. Maybe try it, but if it’s not you, then don’t. Your authenticity and integrity have been your strongest brand attributes.
10) Trump is the main enemy, not the Democratic establishment. Focus on the former, not the latter. If Sanders loses the nomination, he still can push his agenda forward with a strong showing if the Democrats win in November. Perhaps he might say the Democrats protected the status quo in the 2008 crisis even more so than the GOP, which is what Biden represents, focused on bailing out the largest banks, and look where that ultimately got us, Trump. We can’t do the same with the new Covid-19 global pandemic, or we risk four more years of the same. Be very careful on how you say that, you don’t want to alienate all those voters who just bought the Biden brand of returning to the pre-Trump Obama status quo. But the status quo does not work in a time of crisis.
11) Reach out to America’s allies. Trump has alienated America’s closest allies. Covid-19 definitively shows the need to work closely with all leading nations, yes including China, to deal with global problems that know no national boundaries. There has never been a time for Trump’s not so subtle appeals to racism and xenophobia, more so now than ever with the Covid-19 global pandemic, which is not “foreign.” Not me. Us. We are all in this together.
You wouldn’t know it from the corporate media, but most Democratic voters are actually not hostile to Sanders’ agenda, especially if properly framed and presented, which of course the corporate media often does not do. E.g., a CNN article trying to explain how Sanders lost Michigan on March 10 actually said this without a trace of contradiction, emphasis added:
“Around 4 in 10 Michigan Democratic voters chose health care as their top issue, according to early exit polls. About a quarter chose income inequality, 1 in 5 named climate change and 1 in 10 chose race relations. Almost 6 in 10 voters in Michigan whose top priority is health care supported Biden for the nomination, while around 4 in 10 went for Sanders. Sanders narrowly beat Biden among voters who prioritized income inequality. Almost 6 in 10 support replacing private health insurance with a single government plan for all. And around half say the nation’s economy needs a complete overhaul, while over 2 in 5 want minor changes and less than 1 in 10 think it works well as is.”
It must be extremely frustrating for Sanders and his supporters to know that is the situation. To change it, he must channel whatever inner FDR and MLK he has within himself, to be uplifting, not just angry. If he can effectively do so, then Sunday may go down as one of the great debates in American history, with Lincoln-Douglas and Kennedy-Nixon.
Even if he loses the nomination, as all the pundits are now certain, Sanders and his movement will perhaps ultimately be vindicated by history, which is something probably important to a 78 year-old Jewish guy who has come a long way from his humble Brooklyn youth, Trump’s true opposite.
Good luck Sunday night, Senator Sanders.
Make America and World Awesome (MAWA)
Best,
John Furlan
Photo credit: New York Times
