THE best question asked at the first debate for Democratic presidential candidates on October 13th was submitted by a member of the public. It concerned the frustrations of governing a divided country, and it was put to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a leftist who has become an unexpectedly successful challenger to the front-runner, Hillary Clinton. President Barack Obama has struggled to get Republicans to compromise on “just about every agenda”, the questioner asked: how would a Sanders administration be any different?
Mr Sanders offered hope rather than a real answer. Yes, the snowy-haired senator agreed, Republicans have been “terrible, terrible” obstructionists. But if millions of young people and workers come together and demand such policies as free college tuition or a near-doubling of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, then, he averred, Republicans will realise that they are outnumbered and buckle. Indeed, flying in the face of all evidence, Mr Sanders was not even willing to concede the near-certain reality that Republicans will control the House of Representatives after 2016, if not the Senate as well.
Mrs Clinton took a different tack...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1MzdcWe
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