U.S. Senator Sanders Ends Presidential Bid
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, the socialist democrat who pledged to lead a political revolution into the White House, has ended his presidential bid. He left the race after his once-strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporated as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden. The Vermont senator’s announcement came as a setback for many young people supporting Sanders. But it cleared a significant hurdle for Biden, who is now the expected Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in a general election overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Sanders, 78, initially exceeded sky-high expectations about his ability to recreate the magic of his 2016 presidential bid. He even overcame a heart attack last October. But analysts said he was unable to convert unwavering support from progressives into a viable path to the nomination. He had also come under pressure over his democratic socialist ideology and past praise for policies of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Questions were raised whether even anti/Trump voters would elect a socialist.
The decision ended perhaps a life-long dream of the senator to turn his socialist, anti-corporate vision into presidential policies. It also ended his path to become the first Jewish president of the United States.
His Jewish upbringing and suffering of relatives during World War Two played a crucial role in his decision to turn to politics. “I am very proud to be Jewish, and being Jewish is so much of what I am,” he said once at a rally. “Look, my father’s family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical, and extremist politics mean.”
He recalled that under German Nazi-leader Hitler, some 50 million people died, including 6 million Jews. “So what I learned as a little kid is that politics is, in fact, very important.”
He is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history.
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