The corpse of Hillary for America hasn’t even been in the ground for a week. But that hasn’t stopped Bernie Sanders from completing his autopsy of the candidate and the 2016 campaign. The Vermont senator reports that “too many liberal elitists are running the Democratic Party.”
That’s why President-elect Trump didn’t succeed as much as Democrats failed to connect with the middle class, Sanders argued Monday on CBS News. Now the former presidential hopeful is renewing his call for revolution and he wants to start with the Democratic National Committee.
Nostalgic for a simpler time, Sanders said Democrats were “once the party of the American working class.” But that identity has been lost in the shuffle among the posh fundraisers held at Wall Street and Martha’s Vineyard.
“You can’t be, in my view, I speak only for myself,” Sanders said, “a party that raises substantial sums of money from Wall Street and the wealthy and make any worker think you’re on their side.”
A self-proclaimed socialist, Sanders was the second most prominent populist running for president in 2016. Farther to the left and more down to earth than Clinton, he only conceded in July. Five months later, his supporters insist he had a better chance at beating the Republican nominee.
Declining to revisit that run, Sanders suggested instead that “the real issue is why did millions of American voters, who voted for Mr. Obama, not support Secretary Clinton?”
“The answer is they’re angry and they want change,” Sanders opined. “The Democratic party, not just Secretary Clinton, didn’t give them a message, a vision, which says we are going to be on your side.”
Proclaiming himself “the son of the white working class,” Sanders called for a revolution in the party of Jefferson.
“We need a radical shakeup at the Democratic Party,” Sanders said. “So instead of doing fundraisers with wealthy people, we’re out in the grassroots — in the veterans’ halls and the union halls — talking to working class people about how to make positive changes in this country.”
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
