Several months ago, my wife started watching a Michael Moore series on Netflix about American history in the twentieth century. Moore’s predictably left-wing revisionist view was that America, and Harry Truman in particular, was the unprovoked aggressor in the Cold War; if only his hero Henry Wallace had been president, things would have been very different.
I have some tolerance for contrarian views, but not that much. I left the room after about fifteen minutes.
It occurred to me a few days ago that Bernie Sanders is destined to be Wallace’s historical twin: a prominent left-winger outside the mainstream of the Democratic Party who comes uncomfortably close to the presidency, but never makes it. At least we hope he never does.