About Bernie, identity, and the agenda

Not my first choice, though not my last, if Bernie gets the nomination I will certainly vote for him.

Actually, I will vote for whoever wins the nomination.

But I am not sure Colbert feels that way, so much did he mock Bernie for being old, white, and male, quite as though these would not be his own personal failings in not all that many years.

Unless of course he dies soon.

Meanwhile, several of the people of color who share their opinions on MSNBC have expressed feelings from annoyance to anger at Bernie's candidacy.

Why on Earth black voters and black commentators liked Hillary but never Bernie is just an utter mystery.

Sometimes these critics attacking Bernie just seem far too like Republicans attacking Hillary.

But lately they have criticised him for urging Democrats to choose their candidate based not on identity but on what the candidate stands for, what he will fight for, who he will fight for.

The women among them want to vote for a woman because she's a woman and the nonwhites want to vote for a nonwhite because he's a nonwhite.

Always assuming the woman or nonwhite supports the Bernie/AOC agenda, an agenda these same critics generally seem to support.

So, yes, they like his flag.

But they just don't want him to carry it for them.

Perfectly understandable, actually.

I think I agree that there is a solid case to chose a nonmale nonwhite over a white or a male, assuming the people in question support more or less equivalent agendas, or even if the agenda of the nonmale nonwhite is not quite as good.

And the case is even better if the nonwhite nonmale's agenda is maybe more sensitive specifically to concerns of nonmales and nonwhites - concerns whites and males are generally less apt to even know about.

Or preferable in other ways.

After all, to Democrats generally and including whites Barack Obama's race was, all by itself, a point in his favor, and a potent one at that.

If Bernie is asking for identity not to count at all he is not only running in the wrong party but maybe in the wrong decade.

I voted for O twice and would again, despite Rev. Wright, "palling around with terrorists", and the small but not nonexistent racial chip on his shoulder that showed once or twice.

And I definitely counted his being black as a point in his favor.

And I was very happy with the passage of the ACA at the time.

That was an excellent step forward.

The effectiveness of Obamacare and Republican attacks on it have done more than anything to shift public opinion so far that a clear majority is now ready for Medicare for All.

It did not do the whole job, but it did a lot and it got people to see the whole job needs to be done.