Three on One?

Liam Kerr of the Welcome Party is the latest to claim to know what nobody knows about the 2020 Democratic primary: He writes:

But the rush to crown Sanders as the heir apparent to the Democratic nomination overlooks a central dynamic. Sanders is topping the polls as Biden’s support has eroded and the moderate lane has completely fractured. Yet the combined backing for progressive candidates is much lower than it was in the fall -- in fact, it now trails the combined support for moderates considerably.

Fine. Assuming this is true, then I guess I must abandon my preference of President Warren. But in favor of whom? What no one seems to be acknowledging is that we can't run three people against him and none of these three seems to be going away anytime soon.

P.S. Speaking of Warren. Found this interesting in Jennifer Finney Boylan's column in the New York Times today:

If Senator Elizabeth Warren winds up not becoming the nominee, it is possible that one reason for this was voter uncertainty about her “Medicare for all” proposal. Apparently whenever Americans consider this idea, we are thrown into a panic by the possibility that we will lose our health care insurance, and that it will be replaced by some governmental entity.

Such as Medicare, which people like, by a wide margin.[Satisfaction with medical care among Medicare benefciaries is found to be generally high (80-90 percent).]

Ronald Reagan denounced Medicare, back in 1961, as socialized medicine. If Medicare wasn’t blocked, he said, “one of these days we are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.” Before Medicare, only 54 percent of Americans 65 and over had hospital coverage; three years after its passage, 96 percent of older Americans did. Eighty percent to 90 percent of recipients really like Medicare -- and these older Americans are the most conservative voters in the country.

Which makes you think.

I admit I have never quite understood the hatred Reagan had for Medicare, nor the hatred today’s Republicans have for Obamacare (itself modeled on Romneycare, a Republican idea). Is it just that they cannot abide the idea that government sometimes -- even if only as a last resort -- does good things?

That Reagan actually said that with a straight face gives us the sad answer to her question: Yes.