Whatever happened to “Yes We Can?” Three centrist Democratic candidates — John Delaney, John Hickenlooper and Steve Bullock — launched a full-out attack on Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for promoting sweeping measures like Medicare for All and decriminalizing undocumented border crossings.
“You are playing into Donald Trump’s hands,” Bullock said to Warren on the issue of decriminalizing illegal entry at the borders. “A sane immigration system needs a sane leader.”
On Medicare for all, Delaney called for “real solutions, not impossible promises,” and groused: “I’m starting to think this isn’t a heath care strategy; this is an anti-private sector strategy.” Later on, he directly challenged Warren’s health care plan by saying “That’s not a big idea. That’s an idea that’s dead on arrival.”
Hickenlooper explicitly called for “an evolution, not a revolution” on health care.
The naysayers all sounded reasonable and practical. But Democratic primary voters, like other Americans, cherish extraordinary dreams, deep optimism and wild hopes for the future. That is why Sanders and Warren are consistently polling near the front of the pack of 20 Democratic candidates.
“I get a little tired of Democrats afraid of big ideas,” Sanders said. “Please don’t tell me we can’t take on the fossil fuel industry.”
And Warren drew applause by responding to Delaney’s attack with a touch of exasperation: “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”
The back-and-forth reminded me of the electrifying moment in 2008 when candidate Barack Obama — who’d been accused of offering flowery speeches and dreams rather than practical policies — used his victory speech after the South Carolina primary to push back.
“Don’t tell me we can’t change. Yes, we can,” Obama said. “Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future….where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words — yes, we can.”
It was a lofty, optimistic message that ended up carrying Obama to the White House. Sanders and Warren are betting they can do the same.
Errol Louis is the host of “Inside City Hall,” a nightly political show on NY1, a New York all-news channel.