If you’re like most of us, many people on your social media timelines have been talking about how Bernie Sanders has ignited a political revolution in our nation. A lot of people have considered him to be the future of the Democratic Party. However, political scientist Dave Hopkins of Boston College says that despite leaving office, President Obama and his politics are the future of the Democratic Party, not Bernie Sanders.
In an interview with Vox, Hopkins says he believes Obama’s version of the party will stick around for a good amount of time. Hopkins said, “It seems like [Obama] will go down in history as the key figure in current Democratic Party politics — he showed how the party’s new demographic coalition could come together. If you want to talk about the future of the Democratic Party, that’s where it is.”
Hopkins thinks that Sanders’ visible effect on Hillary Clinton’s campaign might have allowed for people to overestimate his longevity. “I think Sanders has had a visible effect on the rhetoric of the Clinton campaign, where they clearly took seriously the critique that she was not really liberal enough and responded to Sanders’ presence in the race,” he said.
Hopkins cited Obama’s opened relations with Cuba, his transformation of the the healthcare system and more as actions that will have a greater and wide-reaching impact.
