A Progressive President Can Make a Huge Difference, With or Without Congress

FDR's Labor Secretary Frances Perkins
Meets with striking workers

Bernie Sanders is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.  I’ve made no secret of my support for him or my belief that he is by far the best candidate to beat the incumbent president.  So let’s assume he wins the nomination and the presidency, which is not far-fetched.  Then what?

Many have observed, myself included, that it would take a new Congress and a sea change to pass many of the bold initiatives that Bernie champions:  Medicare for All, free public higher education, free childcare, bold climate action, massive increase in affordable housing, etc.  Even when Bernie wins in 2020, a progressive majority Congress may not materialize until 2022 or sometime in the future.  What then can a progressive leader like Bernie accomplish in the White House without the support of Congress?

Well, one of the reasons many of us were so disappointed and frustrated with the Obama administration is that the answer is, quite a bit (as long as the inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is willing to take bold action and be criticized). I don’t think that any of us think Bernie would be shy about taking bold action and facing flak.    Bernie has proven himself to be flak proof time and again.  Opposing the invasion of Iraq after 911 is proof enough of that.

The most obvious point is that Bernie can appoint progressive cabinet members, federal judges, etc.  Yes, getting them approved by Congress will be tricky, but I’m confident that he will be able to get himself surrounded by the most diverse, non corporate, progressive administration possible.  These folks will invite voices, perspectives, ideas and experience into the White House that have perhaps never been heard. 

At a minimum, he can reverse the unraveling of all important regulations that protect the public starting with environmental, civil rights and liberties, immigration and oversight of the financial industry.  He can restore the rule of law.

I can hear you pointing out that most Democrats elected President will do all that.  My answer is maybe.  Don’t forget that many of them, especially the "B stands for Business Boys:" Buttigieg, Biden or Bloomberg, might well appoint corporate industry types like Tim Geithner to top positions.  Most of them will appoint health industry folks to regulate the health industry.  Bernie Sanders as president has the power and authority to demand out of the gate that the pharmaceutical industry give us the low prices it gives every single other country in the world.  That’s not something any other president has had the cojones to pull off.

More importantly, perhaps, is the protection and encouragement that a Sanders administration can provide to working people, people of color and environmental advocates who are coming together to advocate for their own rights.  In Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term, there was an unprecedented number of mass strikes by workers happened.  Any other administration previously would have cracked down on, Roosevelt largely (not exclusively) encouraged and protected workers.  This allowed entire industries to be organized for workers from the ground up. 

Remember the Dakota pipeline was proposed during the Obama administration.  Imagine an administration that encouraged and emboldened those protests instead of trying to shut them down?

Kennedy with Civil Rights Leaders

Likewise with Civil Rights protests.   It wasn’t Presidents Kennedy or Johnson that started the civil rights protests in the south, but instead of cracking down on them, they lent their support, their resources, the protection of the law and the National Guard. 

Especially if Mitch McConnell retains control of the Senate, we need a President who is willing to restore the rule of law in this country and use every legal means to protect and expand human dignity.  I think President Sanders, as his record in Congress and in Burlington, Vermont attests, is just the person to do that.