(NewsGlobal.com)- As an interview with Bernie Sanders was coming to a close on Meet the Press this week, Chuck Todd asked an exit question.
“Are you definitely ruling out ever running for president again, or if there is an open race in 2024…” Todd inquired.
Sanders laughed before Todd could finish, “Why did I think you might have asked that question?”
“Look, no politician I know rules out all options,” Sanders said, taking a serious tone.
Many pragmatic Democrats in Washington must have let out a collective groan when they heard this. It had to be disconcerting to think that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ inner circle was laying the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2024.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, has energized a distinct segment of the Democratic Party’s far-left wing, which, to be clear, is not where he calls home when he’s not running for president. (In his last election to the Senate, he won the Democratic primary but declined to run in the general election as a Democrat.)
Despite some electorate support for his plans for universal healthcare, student loan forgiveness, and massive social spending, his agenda has failed to win elections. Many in the Democratic Party’s leadership openly dislike Sanders because he prevented Hillary Clinton from receiving a clean nomination in 2016. They blame him for failing to rally his supporters to her cause faster while writing a book that made him a millionaire.
Michael Dukakis, a self-described “hard-core liberal,” received the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, but he lost in forty states. Recent Progressives elected to the White House pretended to be centrists to convince the party’s base that they were safe and did not pose a threat. When Barack Obama first ran for president, he stated that he opposed gay marriage. Once in the White House, he quickly “evolved.”
The Democratic Party has a long history of experimenting with their more progressive wing, but they always choose the most electable candidate among the available options in the end.
The many issues that plague the party were brought to light by a memo written by Sanders’ team, which stated that he hasn’t ruled out running for president in 2024.
Not all Democrats, however, are upset and see Sanders running as a positive rather than a negative development.
Biden is unpopular among the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. On the other hand, Sanders keeps his finger on the far-left pulse. He has the ability to re-engage activists who are still on his lists but are sitting it out right now. They’ll keep clicking, retweeting, and donating to Bernie Sanders’ campaign as long as there’s a chance he’ll run for president again in 2024.
With Sanders’ participation, this climate unintentionally lays the groundwork for Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
