Daniel Brown: Bernie has the passion; Hillary has the same old routine

President Obama gave a commencement address at Howard University recently. He emphasized you must work to achieve change and that comprise is necessary. I agree these are important parts of creating change, but I am not sure Obama and the Democratic establishment know the difference between compromise and capitulation. Obama gave up on a single-payer system before he even began working on health care. This was not compromise, but capitulation. With compromise you get something in return. He simply decided it could not be done, so he didn’t try.

The tone of Obama’s address talk felt like a criticism of Bernie Sanders. But what the Democratic establishment fails to recognize is that change requires political power and political power comes from passion. The President’s example of civil rights legislation, passed by the Democrats, came about because of the passion of Martin Luther King Jr. and those who worked with him and their unwillingness to capitulate. If King had waited for the Democrats, with their unimpassioned arguments, we would still be waiting for the Civil Rights Act.

Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton is of the same ilk as Obama; aim for less and accept even less. Feel the Bern!

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Daniel Brown: Bernie has the passion; Hillary has the same old routine."