Will Bernie be thwarted again?

He had a head of steam in February of 2020. Then the establishment shut him down in March.

He felt wind in the sails of his caucus in August of this year. They wanted a Go Big social spending bill. Bernie put out a figure of $6T, figuring if Manchin said $1T they could “find a middle ground” at $3.5T.

His caucus saw the $3.5T bill as transformational. Bernie saw it as his legacy.

They had a strategy to get it passed (tie it to the popular bi-partisan infrastructure bill). The strategy failed. There now is a chance that the social spending bill will be pared down to the point where the situation will be viewed as Bernie being thwarted again.

We radicals should sympathize with Bernie’s inclination to “work from within.” It’s a dispositional thing in regard to making the decision: pressure from the outside or be a player on the inside. There are more perks associated with the latter, but it tends to come with a lot of frustration.