Voxdotcom Executive Editor Matthew Yglesias has to be the most smug journalist in the history of new media. Or at least that's how I felt after reading Mr. President of Reddit's latest hit piece on Bernie Sanders, once again attempting to reignite a false narrative that Bernie Sanders can't win because he only appeals to white and (relatively) affluent progressives.
In a Web post (not really fair to call it an article), he exploits a 2012 map of Northeastern United States election results -- which shows that rural whites outside of Vermont tend to vote more conservatively -- to argue that Bernie Sanders' continued success in Vermont is exceptional given his clarity and honestly (yes, I'm not making that up). Rural Vermont whites are exceptional in their progressive beliefs and that's why they are willing to tolerate a politician who speaks in a "frank, unapologetic, and unhedged way" about political economy.
The huge exception to this is Vermont (and the portion of western Massachusetts that abuts Vermont), where Barack Obama won virtually every town no matter how small and where huge swaths of the state are deep, dark blue despite the total absence of any kind of city. This is Bernie Sanders country, and it's kind of a strange place — not only much more liberal than the typical American place, but much more rural (and whiter) than the typical liberal place in America. That accounts for some of Sanders's earlier fumbling around Black Lives Matter but also for some of his appeal.So, there you go: In this Voxdotcom executive editor's Hillary Clinton-biased mind, Bernie Sanders only talks about his ideas so honestly, because he feels confident -- Yglesias says "encourages Sanders to talk about his ideas" -- that he's talking to his target audience and the ideas will be well received.There's almost nobody in the US Senate who represents such a uniformly liberal place — even Massachusetts has significant Republican pockets and regional divisions. That encourages Sanders to talk about his ideas in a frank, unapologetic, and unhedged way that American liberals rarely hear from practical politicians.
Um, really? If so, it's strange that Bernie has said over and over again -- as he most eloquently did in Louisiana -- that he will fight in all 50 states, bringing his message to the places where people are suffering the most from poverty and lack of health care. It's why Bernie is speaking soon at Liberty University.
In short, Yglesias is questioning Bernie Sanders' character and authenticity. He is suggesting that Bernie Sanders would not be as honest and authentic about his views on inequality and the billionaire class if he were not winning elections in a state that is more progressive than many others. He is also explicitly stating that being authentic, earnest and honest in discussing one's beliefs is impractical for a candidate running for national office. That it is literally impossible to win elections in America if one sticks to one's convictions.
Yglesias' worldview is defined by cynicism and the belief that straying from neoliberal Washington consensus politics is impossible -- for fear of sounding a tad hyperbolic, asserting that we are in the end of American history and our political system -- and political economy -- will never evolve beyond the problematic status quo.
(And, journalistically, he has a problem with ignoring facts that don't suit his worldview and his political goals. We see that in the post referenced above, which again takes Bernie Sanders to task for having trouble with Black Lives Matter activists, while ignoring the fact that Hillary Clinton's actual personal interactions -- not to mention her past support of tough-on-crime mass incarceration -- with these activists have been incredibly problematic, including her lecturing black activists on how to behave. Coincidentally, the activists responded by using the language of structural violence contained in Bernie Sanders' own racial justice policy platform.)
To be honest, I don't know why Yglesias is being so childish about Bernie Sanders' candidacy -- although I suspect this latest "explainer" stems from his unease with Bernie Sanders' phenomenal polling as of late. Maybe he wants to be Hillary Clinton's Press Secretary? Or maybe Ezra Klein is just so unprofessional as to ignore his executive editor's extreme bias? Weird, and silly -- reflecting poorly on the entire Voxdotcom enterprise.