Why am I still for Sanders despite Warren’s Outstanding Performance in Last Night’s debate?

Elizabeth Warren, vibrant and feisty at 70, shined in last night’s debate.  She deftly deflected her many detractors.  She held her own.  And her touted policies and beliefs mirrored Bernie Sanders.  So why am I still for Bernie?

Let me dispense with a few reasons that many Bernie supporters give for why they are still for Bernie over Warren:

1.  I do not believe that Warren’s ex Republican status makes her a traitor to Democrats.  My father-in-law is still a Republican on paper and his beliefs mirror mine.    There are many very ethical caring people who either were or are members of the Republican party.  Why any of them would still be a member of the party or would still vote for Republicans is beyond me.  I am a member of the Democratic party only to try to influence the Democratic party from within.  For years I was independent. 
2.  I do not believe that Warren is a stalking horse for Wall Street.  I think she believes what she is saying and I think that if she could win, she would try to be a strong advocate for consumers and working people in the White House.
3.  I am given pause by Warren’s long ago help to Dalkon Shield when it was screwing women it had injured but that is not the reason I am still for Bernie.
4.  I am given pause by Warren’s recent votes for bad military budgets, but that is not the reason I am still for Bernie.

The reasons I am still for Bernie are:
1.  Ohio
2.  Wisconsin
3.  Pennsylvania
4.  Michigan
5.  Ability to NOT get played by Trump
6.  Realism and Pragmatism
7.  Depth and energy of his base including young people, women and people of color
8.  Popularity with everyone who knows him best

Winning the key swing states & depth and energy of his base.  Basically, Bernie has shown that he can win those states.  Even though both Warren and Sanders say they campaign for the middle and working class, Warren is polling better with educated elites than with the people she says she cares about.  Sanders continues to be an absolute rock star on the campaign trail.  You’d never know it by MSNBC (which the Berniecrats on Twitter call “MSDNC”) or CNN coverage but Bernie draws record epic crowds and lines everywhere he goes.  People wait for hours in lines around the block to see him.  His average contribution is $17.  He’s getting this money from teachers and Walmart and Amazon employees barely eking out a living.

Everything that Warren said last night is correct.  We don’t beat the incumbents by turning back the clock.  We beat them by addressing the same concerns that got him elected.  That rules out Joe Obama Biden, Pete Clinton Buttigieg, and Kamala Harris right off the bat.  Warren says all the right things but I still believe that she cannot connect as well with the people of these midwestern states.

Popularity with those who know him best.  Before and after running for president, Sanders is the most popular senator in the country with his home state, Vermont (also in neighboring and more conservative New Hampshire).  Vermont has a Republican governor and almost everyone in the state loves Bernie.  They look at you like you’re crazy if you ask who they support for president.  Warren, by contrast, is not particularly popular in Massachusetts.  (Nor is Harris in California).  

Realism and Pragmatism.  Bernie has been a chief executive (mayor) for many years and was, by all accounts, very effective at it.  I believe he knows how to govern and is less likely to get in the weeds, but will hire great people who will be loyal and will get it done.  My sense is that Warren would be more of a Jimmy Carter type who tries to get her hands on everything.  That’s typically a disaster for a president.  Bernie is not some pie in the sky idealist (neither is Warren), he knows it will take a sea change and a movement to get the changes that he wants done.  That’s why he compares himself to FDR who campaigned on the New Deal and when elected said “now go out there and make me do it.”

Not getting played by you know who.  Although Warren is showing more discipline today, which makes me more hopeful if she does end up being the nominee, the whole Pocahontas thing, the recent discoveries of possible fabrications, all of it is unfair and unjustified stuff but I don’t feel she has uniformly handled it well.  This president has an uncanny ability to define the playing field and drag his opponents to it.  He did it with every single Republican he beat in the 2016 primary and he did with Hillary.  Bernie on the other hand just keeps being Bernie.  He does not get thrown off his game.  He has abundantly shown that he doesn’t play by the opponent’s rules.  He plays by his rules.  This is KEY KEY KEY to beating this guy.  As Harry Reid said the other day, do NOT underestimate Donald Trump.

Popularity with young people, women and people of color.  Bernie may be an old white man but yesterday three women of color in Congress (3/4 of “the Squad) endorsed him: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar (D-MN),  and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). This video endorsement by Omar says it all: