Sanders leaves his mark on the DNC’s platform

The Democrats have been veering left for years, much in the way the Republican Party has been moving further right. As such, the issues included in the Democratic platform — and the positions taken on those issues — are hardly surprising.

Still, the 2016 platform codifies the Democratic Party’s governing goals as unambiguously progressive, functioning as somewhat of a final left turn away from the “new Democrat,” center-left philosophy that retained a foothold in the party since the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Clinton’s wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, is to be nominated at this week’s convention. But the heart and soul of the party resembles Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the upstart primary candidate Clinton vanquished, as much as it does her.

Clinton was never a Democrat in the center-left mold of her husband. Her liberal instincts were on display way back in 1993, upon becoming first lady, as she championed an ultimately failed effort to pass universal, government-run health insurance through what was then a Democratic House and Senate.

But Sanders’ stronger-than-expected performance in the Democratic primary pushed Clinton further left than she intended. A significant slice of the Democratic base, especially the younger set, remains enchanted by Sanders, and adopting a boldly liberal platform has been a top Sanders priority.

So, the document that emerged from the Democratic Party’s platform committee was a political necessity for Clinton in her bid to unify the party for the fall campaign against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“We are proud that the draft 2016 Democratic Platform, which the drafting committee approved yesterday, represents the most ambitious and progressive platform our party has ever seen, and reflects the issues Hillary Clinton has championed throughout this campaign,” Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Maya Harris said in a statement.

Among the key policy markers presented in the platform are:

• increasing the minimum wage to “at least” $15 per hour
• abolishing the death penalty — a first for the party, and “ending the era of mass incarceration”
• expanding President Obama’s financial reform law, known loosely as “Dodd-Frank,” that sought to crack down on Wall Street
• implementing a surtax on “multimillionaires”
• expanding Social Security, the federal pension plan for the aged
• building on Obamacare to achieve “universal” healthcare
• ending the use of fossil fuels (i.e. oil) by 2050
• re-affirming support for abortion rights and “Planned Parenthood health centers”
• support for legalizing marijuana on a state-by-state basis.

The committee charged with drawing up and voting to ratify the document comprised appointees made by the Clinton and Sanders campaigns. Sanders’ impact was unmistakable.

Substantively, the platform reflects his priorities. Politically, the party is making a point of highlighting his influence and tying his agenda to Clinton’s. Interspersed within the platform were deliberate mentions of various proposals having the support of members of “the Clinton and Sanders teams,” according to a review of a draft copy that was available online.

The point was to forge unity between Sanders’ progressive populist forces on the left that Clinton needs to win the election, and her coalition of established party loyalists, and center-left, rank-and-file Democrats.

Donna Brazile, a veteran of past intra-Democratic Party squabbles, predicted a neat outcome. “I don’t see the fault lines. Only thing I can predict is a few cracks here and there,” she said.

Brazile said Clinton and Sanders clearly disagree on some issues, as was evident when they debated each other during the primary campaign. But they agree on much more, and that’s reflective of the platform document produced by the party committee, she said.

The disagreement between Clinton and Sanders that has threatened to throw a wrench into the platform drafting process and cause a public relations headache is how to approach the Israeli-Palestinian controversy. It was an issue four years ago.

In 2012, President Obama had to move at his re-election convention in Charlotte, N.C., to restore to the platform a line reaffirming party support for Jerusalem as Israel’s national capital.

This year, some Democrats worried that Sanders’ appointees on the drafting committee, among them Palestinian sympathizers, would seek to alter the Democratic Party’s historical position of backing Israel as a sovereign Jewish state.

Clinton appears to have won that battle.

The document condemns the movement to boycott, divest and sanction any foreign nation that attempts to harm the Jewish state, while also opposing efforts to “delegitimize” Israel at the United Nations.

“We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty and dignity,” the platform draft read.