The Democrats appear to learn the right lesson
Last Friday evening, Bernie Sanders addressed an energetic, excitable crowd of nearly 5,000 in the Massachusetts city of Springfield, drumming up support ahead of the Super Tuesday round of Democrat primaries.
Even more impressively, he then persuaded more than 13,000 supporters to turn out in freezing conditions to an outdoor rally in Boston Common last Saturday. “As some of you may know,” he said, “the establishment is getting very nervous about our campaign.
And tonight, they’re going to turn on the TV and they’re going to find that 10,000 people came out to Boston Common, and they’re going to become even more nervous.”
Well, so much for that. On Tuesday Bernie found out a lesson that sensible politicians in the Labour party learnt a long time ago: rallies aren’t votes. Even in Springfield, “the establishment” candidate for Democrat nominee, Joe Biden, swept to victory.
With Elizabeth Warren dropping out of the race yesterday, it is increasingly a two-horse race between the red-blooded socialism of Bernie Sanders and the steady-as-she-goes moderation of Biden for the opportunity of taking on the Oval Office incumbent Donald Trump.
Biden isn’t perfect. As a campaigner he is past his prime. And while there are plenty of Americans “feeling the Bern,” Biden is unlikely to set too many pulses racing. But the quiet approval for him in Massachusetts paints a broader picture: most Americans — and most Brits — don’t want politicians that bother them. Jeremy Corbyn plotted revolution; we know how that ended.
If the Democrats are serious about beating Trump, Sanders would be an almighty risk. There’s a lesson here too for the Conservative party at home. Unspoken in the slogan Get Brexit Done was a promise to keep politics off the front pages for a bit, so people could get on with their lives and not be bothered by internal Westminster wranglings.
The public bit their hand off. Since then, instead, we’ve had rows over the BBC, power struggles at the Treasury, rogue advisers and a very public falling-out with senior elements of the civil service.
Coronavirus has, bizarrely, given the Prime Minister and his government a chance to reset the administration. A YouGov poll reckons voters of all stripes appreciate the quiet competence on display. Like the markets, voters just want something they can rely on — rather than the promised glory of someone else’s revolution.
Main image: Getty