Monday letters: Sanders has opposed Obama

Our kids are better off than they were eight years ago, and President Obama is largely to thank. Most Democrats take this as truth. Bernie Sanders does not. Sanders has opposed the president’s legacy and recently endorsed a book called Buyer’s Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down.

This is just the latest in a long line of anti-Obama moves. During the 2012 campaign, Sanders thought it would be a “good idea” for someone to primary a sitting president. And he threatened to oppose the Affordable Care Act and even now wants to start over from scratch.

President Obama called for gun reform to close the Charleston loophole that allowed Dylann Roof to buy a gun (which Sanders helped create). While Obama said gun violence “is something we should politicize,” Sanders said, “I hope we don’t have to politicize that issue.” I’m with Obama: If addressing tragedy prevents future tragedies, then we should absolutely get political.

President Obama criticized Congress for blocking gun-violence research and for shielding gun makers from lawsuits. Sanders, along with many Republicans, voted against these protections. No wonder Obama wrote that he would not “support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform.”

I am a proud progressive, and I haven’t the slightest buyer’s remorse for President Obama. Saturday’s S.C. Democratic primary is a chance to build on, not undo, eight years of hard-won achievements. One candidate will do this. The other will not.

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 6:37 AM with the headline "Monday letters: Sanders has opposed Obama."