True confession: despite my longtime anger and suspicion towards Hillary Clinton, I remember feeling very moved as the first woman in US History accepted the Democratic nomination in her white pantsuit (and no, you shouldn’t even consider running again, good day, I said good day, madam secretary). So as a woman with a background as a consumer attorney and advocate who likes a lot about Elizabeth Warren, it is not lightly that I fully support, endorse and work for a Bernie Sanders nomination and presidency. I’d like to tell you a few of the ways that I strongly believe he is not just another (angry) white man. Several of the points I make are more strongly illuminated in this recent piece How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Senator Bernie Sanders
1. Having a Jewish President would be a significant first. We have never had a president who grew up in non Christian religion. Three of our presidents were considered to have no religious affiliation: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. John F. Kennedy with the only Catholic president. It seems that Bernie Sanders identifies as more culturally than religiously Jewish, but he is not a practicing Christian. So it would be very new to have a Jewish president.
2. Knows the dangers of fascism. Although Bernie’s father moved to the US in the 1920s, many of the relatives who stayed were murdered in the Holocaust. Bernie Sanders grew up with a clear sense of the consequences fascism in the world.
3. Child of Immigrants. Since his father came to the US to escape poverty and anti-semitism seeking a better life, he can identify with other refugees and immigrants who come to American fleeing poverty and oppression.
4. Better placed to broker peace in the Middle East. Bernie has a connection to Israel going back many years. In 1963 he lived on a kibbutz near Haifa. As a Jewish-American with concerns about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, a President Sander may be uniquely placed to broker a more lasting peace without charges toward him of anti-semitism. As Bernie says in the above-reference article, “we should be very clear that it is not antisemitic to criticize the policies of the Israeli government.”
5. Common cause with Muslim Americans. Related but separate point to above is that Bernie has been able to make common cause with Muslim Americans and is strongly supported by many including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) who are campaigning for him. Bernie Sanders was one of only two Democratic candidates to address the Islamic Society of North America convention in August, the largest gathering of Muslim Americans in the country.
6. Grew up working class. Unlike almost all the other male candidates for president including Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Julian Castro, Cory Booker and Tom Steyer, Bernie Sanders grew up working class and was himself a union member for a time. Looks like Joe Biden’s father was very wealthy at one time and then fell on hard times in Scranton and became a car salesman. It also looks like Sanders was the only one of those candidates with at least one parent attending college. This gives Sanders a strong connection to the folks who are not particularly nostalgic for the Obama administration which did little to address their kitchen table concerns [I refuse to consider Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick yet in this list).
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| Bernie being arrested in Chicago 1963 Civil Rights protest |