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books2018-05-17 02:22 pm
dark_phoenix54) wrote in books2018-05-17 02:22 pm
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Crashing the Party: From the Bernie Sanders Campaign to a Progressive Movement, by Heather Gautney. Verso, 2018
A brief look at the 2016 Democratic primary, Bernie’s campaign, and the history behind them. Bernie’s own political history is in stark contrast to Hilary’s. He came up from the bottom, representing the poor and people of color, while Hilary (as well as Bill Clinton, and, for that matter, Obama) was funded by, and stood for, the class of people with money to invest in her campaign.
The author, a professor of sociology as well as staffer for Sanders, tells us how the appeal of the socialist message worked. He brought in the majority of the youth vote, and that of the lower classes and people of color. Sadly, the super delegates worked against him, causing him to lose even in states where he won the majority of the popular vote (how ironic that something similar worked against Hilary in the general election). An easy read; it’s the first political book I’ve found readable since Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Five stars.
A brief look at the 2016 Democratic primary, Bernie’s campaign, and the history behind them. Bernie’s own political history is in stark contrast to Hilary’s. He came up from the bottom, representing the poor and people of color, while Hilary (as well as Bill Clinton, and, for that matter, Obama) was funded by, and stood for, the class of people with money to invest in her campaign.
The author, a professor of sociology as well as staffer for Sanders, tells us how the appeal of the socialist message worked. He brought in the majority of the youth vote, and that of the lower classes and people of color. Sadly, the super delegates worked against him, causing him to lose even in states where he won the majority of the popular vote (how ironic that something similar worked against Hilary in the general election). An easy read; it’s the first political book I’ve found readable since Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Five stars.
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In the Democratic primaries, Clinton got 2807 delegates (including 602 superdelegates) and Bernie got 1894 delegates (including 48 superdelegates). Which means that, even if you only counted the delegates chosen by popular vote, Clinton would still have gotten 2205 votes compared to Bernie's 1846.
(Also, Hillary got her start working for the poor and underrepresented -- look up her anti-racist and pro-disability-support work with the Children's Defense Fund, or her working-class and LGBTQ support through Legal Services Corporation, for examples. It sounds like the book wasn't focused on her, so it makes sense that the author didn't go into those details, but it's worth knowing.)