Mark Weiss, your article is thoughtful and well written. I agree with you that Bernie is not a great politician (although he is a formidable campaigner). The political gaffs that you point out are evidence of honesty and integrity to his ideology, rather than he personally. The “framing” that he did with Castro was revealing and not simply an error. For instance, should you or I be asked about Hitler, we would not respond that he built great roads and was kind to his dog. A similar response that China is where it is today because of distribution of wealth rather than an embracement of trade was equally revealing of Bernie’s view of the world
I would argue that it was Bernie’s unwavering from his ideology that made him both salable and unsalable. His staunch positions shielded him from realities (cost of things) that Elizabeth Warren tripped over. That stiffened the sinews of his followers, but was never going to include a broader audience.
An ideological candidate generally makes a poor politician. Bernie was never one to compromise — a quality (a strength and not a weakness) of the successful politician. Bernie achieved pretty much nothing in Washington after, how many years? Robert Kennedy was this kind of politician — generally disliked and couldn’t get anyone on board. His brother was the exact opposite.
Bernie can be given enormous credit for correctly pointing to issues that are in immediate need of attention and fixing. Unfortunately, most of his solutions were wanting — either not really there or dead wrong. All his proposals gravitated to the top down approach and unnecessarily elevated decision making into a bureaucratic nightmare full of inefficiencies and windows for corruption. His plan for universal rent control is a grand example where rents would be set by a body of people as opposed to the market.
The danger with Bernie is that he would shut down (or seriously impede) the engines that have provided us our living standard. Those engines, such as the flow of goods and services, capital and people, seem inconsequential to him. So too, are all the good stuff like world security and resolving of common international issues, that accompany those engines. Bernie is all about the distribution of wealth (which is fine) but dismisses how you make wealth in the first place. That’s a big Bernie problem.
Many thanks for your article.
