Bernie Sanders is MY Barack Obama. Let me explain. I remember the complete elation I felt when
Obama was elected; the unbelievable had happened! I was jumping up and down and screaming, in a
group of people who were doing the same thing.
Comparing him to Sanders in no way diminishes how the pride I felt then
and still do. But Bernie could be my
uncle or cousin. An old, white, Jewish
Socialist. My people! It would be another miracle, another occasion
to scream.
But truly, that’s not why I like him. Barack Obama being black is obviously not his
only desirable quality either; after all, Ben Carson is black as well, and I
don’t think he is generating that degree of interest in the African-American
community. I don’t even know if Bernie
is polling well with Jews—certainly not with conservative Jews. I like Bernie Sanders because he brings back
the idealism of my youth.
I believed in peace and brotherhood as long as I can
remember. Anti-war rallies, civil rights
demonstrations filled me with a spiritual sense that all things were
possible. I believed in a future with
unicorns and frolicking lambs---no, not really.
But I did believe that if we stayed true to a goal and continued to work
hard, amazing things were possible.
Somewhere along the way, I lost the fervor and the
drive. I ignored it all the years I
raised children, worked and did all the daily mundane things one does. President Obama’s election was the rebirth of
and I really hate to let go of it. Not
as much as I’d hate Trump to be President, but somewhere close to that level of
emotion. Bernie Sanders has kept that
fervor all those years, despite living and working in the middle of political
reality.
I think that’s why he has generated the support of young people—young
people much like my own younger self.
Even if you don’t agree with me politically, even if you believe he
doesn’t have the chance of the proverbial snowball in hell, allow yourself to
dream of the world we coulda shoulda have.
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