Bernie Sanders Tells Bill Maher That Democrats Lost Because Republicans Hid Their Agenda

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:39 pm

Sen. Bernie Sanders explained to Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time that one of the big reasons why Democrats lost the election was that Republicans were able to successfully disguise their agenda.

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Robert Costa pointed out that Democrats didn’t turn out to vote. Sen. Sanders explained, “Well, I think what that’s about Bob, is that the vast majority of people are really giving up on the political system. Ordinary people are hurting. They work longer hours for lower wages. They know we’re the only major country on Earth that doesn’t have a national healthcare program. They look at Washington, and they say hey, what’s going on in Washington? These guys are representing the billionaire class. What about us? Why should I come out and vote? And what Republicans also did very, very effectively is disguise what their agenda is. What is their agenda? It’s easy it beat up on Obama. What are they going to do when they come into office?”

Bill Maher’s explanation that this was a racist vote against Obama didn’t paint the full picture. Sen. Sanders’ explanation made more sense. Sure, Republicans hate Obama. Republicans have practiced the politics of racial division to add fuel to that hate, but Democrats invested heavily in get out the vote operation, and key Democratic constituencies didn’t show up.

The reality is that Democratic Senate candidates hurt themselves with their Democratic supporters by criticizing and running away from the president. Senate Democratic candidates fed into the Obama negativity that depressed their own vote. As Sen. Sanders said, it was easy to bash Obama. Democratic Senate candidates made the easy choice by jumping on the Obama bandwagon. The result of their decision was that they demoralized their own supporters.

Republicans ran on nothing but Obama bashing, and Senate Democrats ran on we’re not Obama. This created an environment where the election was all about Obama. Republicans had no agenda that they ran on. Democrats had no agenda except for trying to turn out voters by talking about the minimum wage, the right to choose, and protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Without the president on the campaign trail driving a national message home, Democrats were rudderless. By moving away from Obama, Senate Democrats made themselves easy individual targets to be picked off. If Democrats nationally would have argued that they were fighting for ordinary people, and tried to make this election about something besides self-preservation, their odds would have improved.

Senate Democrats made it easy for Republicans to hide their agenda by joining in on the Obama bashing.

Sen. Sanders was correct. Republicans were able to disguise their agenda because they made the election all about Obama. Democrats couldn’t counter this because they had no national agenda with the exception of running away from Obama.

Democratic voters were depressed and suppressed. The Democratic Party could help themselves a great deal by taking a lesson from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association