Bernie Sanders is finally demonstrating what the Republican party has understood for a long time, and what the Democrats either don't seem to care about or else just aren't very good at: it's as important- or more important- to shape the social discussion as it is to present good facts or write good law.

Ted Cruz:

In both law and politics, I think the essential battle is the meta-battle of framing the narrative[...] as Sun Tzu said, 'Every battle is won before it’s fought. It’s won by choosing the terrain on which it will be fought.' So in litigation I tried to ask, What’s this case about? When the judge goes home and speaks to his or her grandchild, who’s in kindergarten, and the child says, ‘Paw-Paw, what did you do today?’ And if you own those two sentences that come out of the judge’s mouth, you win the case.

from this article.

In the liberal democratic tradition, it's actually a pretty old idea (I mean, ignoring the Sun Tzu reference)- think Rousseau had a few things to say about culture-shaping- but up to now, I've only ever seen it effectively utilized by the right. Not to say that Democrats don't use it, but their track record at using it effectively is a lot more checkered than that of the Republicans. I see this most prominently in the gun debate, in the framing of the weird "industry versus environment" dichotomy, in abortion politics, and of course in the immigration clusterfuck, which seems to gain traction no matter how many times one points out that immigrants are in fact voluntarily moving back across the border these days, or else not effectively crossing, or else getting booted out in greater numbers now than ever before. Even the fact that I have to type that out as some sort of positive argument is infuriating, and a good illustration of the point.

Bernie Sanders, god bless 'im, is a fantastic framer-of-the-debate. He's arguably at his best when he's tugging from the outside. That's where he can be polarizing without having to make all the necessary concessions to compromise. That's the correct position from which you effectively frame the narrative.

I'll say it again as I've said a thousand times: for the duration of this primary, Sanders hasn't demonstrated any of the qualities necessary for strong, effective executive leadership. But he's got pretty much a goddamn monopoly on the qualities required of a strong, effective culture warrior, and that's what I applaud him for. I hope he keeps on pushing, both in this contest and afterward, no matter what office he achieves.