‘They haven’t tried’: Bernie Sanders criticizes Democrats’ economic messaging

Bernie Sanders has criticized Democrats for not doing enough to motivate voters around the economic issues that have an impact on everyday life, as he warned next week’s midterm elections are the most “consequential” in modern American history. In an interview with the Guardian in Texas, the leftwing Vermont senator said: “Obviously, everybody should be turning out for what is the most consequential midterm election in the modern history of this country. Democracy is on the ballot. Women’s right to control their own bodies is on the ballot. Climate change is on the ballot, so everybody should come out.”

But Sanders said he worried “very much that Democrats have not done a good enough job of reaching out to young people and working-class people and motivating them to come out and vote in this election”.

Sanders, a Democratic socialist who ran for president in 2016 and 2020, maintains a strong core of support in the Democratic party. He has been a fierce critic of Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, but has also been unafraid to point out what he sees as flaws in Democratic strategy.

Sanders was in Texas last weekend as part of a barnstorming trip across the US ahead of next week’s midterm elections that he wants to use to highlight economic issues, which are emerging as the primary concern for many voters.

“People are hurting. You got 60% of our people living paycheck to paycheck, and for many workers, they are falling further behind as a result of inflation. Oil company profits are soaring, food company profits are soaring, drug company profits are soaring. Corporate profits are at an all time high. The rich are getting much richer, and Democrats have got to make that message,” he said.

In assessing his party’s success at communicating the threat of corporate profiteering to the cost of living, Sanders said, “It’s not a question of [Democrats being] successful. They haven’t tried.” On Wednesday, Biden urged oil companies to pass their massive profits on to consumers, seeking to address what he sees as the real reason behind the high gas prices Americans have seen in the past year: corporate profiteering. It’s the kind of message Sanders hoped to see earlier in an election in which many Democratic candidates have focused more on the loss of abortion rights and the growing threat to US democracy.

“The truth is that about half of inflationary cost increases are a result of corporate greed. So if people can’t afford to fill up their gas tanks, if they can’t afford food, if they can’t afford their prescription drugs – what Democrats should be explaining to them is why that is so,” Sanders said. “We’ve got a fight every step of the way with the supreme court. You’ve seen a pretty much united Democratic party on [the abortion] issue, have you not? Zillions of dollars on ads and so forth. But we have not had the same unity and the same energy around the economic crisis facing working families and what Republicans would do. So it’s not a question of what the president alone is doing. It’s a question of what the party is doing, where it’s putting its money, its resources, its energy.”

When asked if he supported a 2024 Biden presidential run, Sanders said: “Right now, we’re worried about 2022.”

Rawr

Article URL : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/04/bernie-sanders-democrats-economy-midterms