MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. Bernie Sanders had to quit the US presidential race because the Democratic Party’s top brass had opposed his left-wing views from the very outset, the director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, Valery Garbuzov, told TASS on Thursday.
"Sanders’s left-of-center views are too radical for the United States. He promises nationalization and various social programs. He does not fit in with America’s customary political landscape at all, although he does have an electorate of his own," Garbuzov said. The other contender for the role of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Joe Biden, on the contrary is a creature of the Democratic Party’s upper tier and a steadfast bureaucrat."
"From the very beginning the tactic of the Democratic Party’s top brass was to elbow Sanders into the background to let Biden take centerstage to ensure by the moment of the party’s Convention in the summer Biden already become a presidential candidate."
Sanders' decision to quit makes Biden the sole candidate from the Democratic Party in the presidential election. However, it is too hard to say for the time being to what extent such an early nomination will contribute to his electoral chances, Garbuzov said.
"The coronavirus has intervened. In January, no one could have guessed what kind of situation there would emerge so soon. President Donald Trump was boasting about his economic successes, which have now been reduced to nothing. Everything depends on what Trump and his administration will do in the current critical situation," Garbuzov said. "If the people see him as the leader of the nation and its savior, there will be one result, but if he begins to be perceived as someone who does nothing but indulges in demagogy, his chances will dwindle."
Undesirable partnership
Garbuzov is certain that if Biden in case of his nomination picks Hillary Clinton to be his vice-president, his campaign would be ruined.
"Both Biden and Clinton are representatives of the political establishment. Whenever a duo is chosen, everybody proceeds from the intention to unite the party, which is very fragmented," he explained. "Clinton is associated with a presidential election loss and scandals. In this particular situation there should be some politician who by virtue of age might attract the younger part of the electorate."
The Democrats are experiencing a crisis of leadership. However strongly they may wish to defeat Trump in the presidential election, at the moment "there are no people who might contest the position of the party’s symbol and eventually become a national leader," Garbuzov said.
Sander’s decision to quit
In a message to his supporters on Wednesday Sanders announced the decision to end his campaign for nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. He said that he would cooperate with Joseph Biden "to move our progressive ideas forward." At the same time he remarked he would retain the number of delegates he had at the moment and avoided calling on them to support Biden.
Sanders declared his withdrawal the next day after primaries in Wisconsin, where 84 delegates are elected to the national Democratic Party Convention, which will nominate Trump’s rival. The results of Wisconsin primaries, held amid the pandemic, will not be announced at least until April 13, but Sander’s rival - former Vice-President Biden - told the CNN in an interview as soon as the polling stations closed that he was certain about his victory.
According to The New York Times, Biden has already secured the support of 1,217 delegates of the National Convention, while Sanders has the votes of 914 delegates. To become a presidential candidate in the first round of voting the contender is to garner the support of 1,991 delegates.