Smashing the all-work-and-no-play stereotypes that have built up around the presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders danced his way onto the stage at the Ellen DeGeneres Show to — what else?— The Trammps' "Disco Inferno."
It also showed his ability to perform for his audience, something experts say voters want, whereas Sanders has mostly stuck to his platform and serious — some might say revolutionary — talking points, which he takes to like a duck to water.
Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist, told the Hill that Sanders has realized it may be beneficial to let his hair down, so to speak.
"He is finding out that it is not sufficient in today's politics to be smart," Sheinkopf claimed. "You have to be able to perform…It's the politics of entertainment."
In the first Democratic presidential debates, which more than a dozen online polls indicated he won, Senator Sanders delivered several strong messages about his position, including the need to restructure the "rigged" US economic system, the threat of global climate change, and said he considers it necessary to take into account the information declassified by former CIA employee Edward Snowden on the US' domestic surveillance apparatus, before condemning the whistleblower as a criminal.
"Look, every candidate running for president has to stretch beyond their comfort zone," said Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen. "For Hillary Clinton, her comfort zone is tough policy discussions; she needs to stretch into [delivering speeches] in big arenas. For Sanders, his comfort zone is the big arenas; he has to stretch into more intimate personal interactions."
.@BernieSanders knows how to get down. https://t.co/GKU1FaWnQR
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) October 15, 2015
In response to comedian Larry David's impersonation of Sanders on Saturday Night Live this weekend, Sanders laughed on ABC's This Week, telling host George Stephanopoulos "I think we'll use Larry at our next rally. He does better than I do."
