The new Democrats

Looking ahead to the future of the Democratic Party, there are three people to watch: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Cory Booker.

One might assume 75 year-old Bernie Sanders is done, but one would be wrong. From Quartz:

Democrats are planning their first major gesture of opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency, and Bernie Sanders is leading the charge.

Democratic members of Congress received a letter today calling on them to join the Vermont senator in organizing rallies across the country on January 15. The goal is to galvanize resistance to Donald Trump as Congress returns to work, just a week ahead of the next president’s inauguration.

The letter came from the party’s two top officials, Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi, as well as Sanders, who joined the Democrat’s leadership committee for the first time ever this year.

Sanders, whose run for the Democratic presidential nomination this year emboldened the left wing of the Democratic party, has seen his cachet rise in a party looking for leadership following Hillary Clinton’s defeat in November. Amidst the recriminations and a messy race to head up the party’s national committee, it hasn’t been clear who would be the face of Democratic opposition to Trump. Now, we have an answer.

Don't expect Sanders to run for president again, but he will clearly be influential in the future of the Democratic Party. He might consider a vice presidency if asked.

(On a side note, I don't want to hear any more complaints from Democrats about Republican obstructionism during the Obama years. With this, you are now the same as the Republicans, so don't give me your "holier than thou" crap.)

Regardless, expect the Democrats to make a shameless turn to the far Left, with socialist/communist Sanders as the embodiment of this new "free lunch" stupidity.

Which leads us to the 2020 presidential front-runner, Senator Elizabeth "Faux-cahontis" Warren. From The Hill:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is set to bolster her Senate resume next year, sparking early talk about a 2020 presidential bid.

The Massachusetts Democrat will join the Armed Services Committee in 2017, branching out beyond the tough-on-Wall Street message that made her a liberal favorite.

Warren has tied the decision to her family — her three brothers served in the military — and Massachusetts ranks in the top 10 states on military spending, according to a Pentagon report.

But the announcement spawned a wave of a media speculation that Warren is filling portfolio gaps to position herself for a 2020 presidential run.

And that is a very reasonable speculation too. However, such "portfolio gaps" are only important to the political talking heads. Where Warren shines is in the mainstream media's adoration for her. Just like the media's collusion with Hillary Clinton, it isn't a far stretch to imagine the MSM bending over backwards to coronate Warren.

However, there is one other candidate with strong 2020 potential: Cory Booker. From NJ.com:

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who has called for a congressional investigation as to whether Russia intervened in the presidential election to help elect Donald Trump, will be getting a perch in the new Senate from which to continue his efforts.

Booker (D-N.J.) will sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the 115th Congress convenes next month.

Barack Obama also served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before he ran for president. This is no coincidence.

To be honest, unless Booker stumbles, I would expect him to be a stronger general election presidential candidate than Warren, because he can get the black voters into the polling places in large numbers. That was a huge factor in Obama's election success. However, Warren has the rest of the Democratic Party's base on her side at the moment. In 2020, expect another tight Democratic race like 2008.