Why do more educated people tend toward centrism?

[Technocracy Timmy]

To be fair, didn't Obama's platform run left of Clinton's?

Yes. I was just old enough to remember the primaries back then (12 years old at the time). Obama dragged Hillary on her Iraq war vote and hit her pretty hard on NAFTA/trade deals and being too establishment and corporate friendly (noting that she was a corporate lawyer serving on the board of Walmart). Sound familiar? That's Sanders primary message and Trump's GE message against her as well.

One could argue that Obama's 2008 blueprint against Clinton was stolen directly by Sanders and Trump. That's why Trump and Sanders populism is part of a greater trend that's been in place since 2008 and in the post financial crisis political environment.

[This is Eharding, guys]

To be fair, didn't Obama's platform run left of Clinton's?

Yes. I was just old enough to remember the primaries back then (12 years old at the time). Obama dragged Hillary on her Iraq war vote and hit her pretty hard on NAFTA/trade deals and being too establishment and corporate friendly (noting that she was a corporate lawyer serving on the board of Walmart). Sound familiar? That's Sanders primary message and Trump's GE message against her as well.

One could argue that Obama's 2008 blueprint against Clinton was stolen directly by Sanders and Trump. That's why Trump and Sanders populism is part of a greater trend that's been in place since 2008 and in the post financial crisis political environment.

Timmy, part of this is revisionist history. Hillary demanded an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, Obama a gradual one. Obama opposed the individual mandate, Hillary supported truly universal healthcare. Obama ran very well in rich, well-educated southern suburbs and cities, Bernie did far worse in those. Despite Obama dragging Hillary on NAFTA, he did terribly in the heavily white working class areas of Ohio, much worse than Sanders did.
https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2008&fips=39&f=0&off=0&elect=1

[Technocracy Timmy]

To be fair, didn't Obama's platform run left of Clinton's?

Yes. I was just old enough to remember the primaries back then (12 years old at the time). Obama dragged Hillary on her Iraq war vote and hit her pretty hard on NAFTA/trade deals and being too establishment and corporate friendly (noting that she was a corporate lawyer serving on the board of Walmart). Sound familiar? That's Sanders primary message and Trump's GE message against her as well.

One could argue that Obama's 2008 blueprint against Clinton was stolen directly by Sanders and Trump. That's why Trump and Sanders populism is part of a greater trend that's been in place since 2008 and in the post financial crisis political environment.

Timmy, part of this is revisionist history. Hillary demanded an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, Obama a gradual one. Obama opposed the individual mandate, Hillary supported truly universal healthcare. Obama ran very well in rich, well-educated southern suburbs and cities, Bernie did far worse in those. Despite Obama dragging Hillary on NAFTA, he did terribly in the heavily white working class areas of Ohio, much worse than Sanders did.
https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2008&fips=39&f=0&off=0&elect=1

1. A lot of progressives had no interest in voting for Clinton as a result of the Iraq war fallout. There was even a study recently that indicated that areas with higher military casualties were more likely to swing for Trump over Clinton (or something along those lines). Obama and Clinton arguing over how to withdraw was overshadowed by the fact that he had opposed the war from the start and she didn't (look at the debates of him hammering her over this point constantly).

2. Working class whites aren't the sole uniting coalition between Sanders and Obama. Look at how the youth both broke for Obama and Sanders over Clinton. People who categorized themselves as "very liberal" also generally favored Sanders and Obama over Clinton. Young black voters favored Sanders and Obama over Clinton.

3. As for Ohio, well look at the results of the Iowa caucus by comparison. And nobody is denying that Obama being a half black man made it more difficult to break into these areas during the primary. He sure as hell did a lot better with rural Midwestern whites in 2008 and 2012 than Hillary Clinton did in 2016; a feat that's much more impressive given that he was running as our first African American President.

4. I didn't mention healthcare in my previous comment, but she was generally to the left of Obama on that issue, yes.