Sanders: Obama should use bully pulpit more

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday criticized President Obama for failing to “tap the anger and the frustration” of the American people on economic issues.

{mosads}Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders said while the president “has done some very good things” and “the level of obstructionism that he has had to face has been unprecedented,” Obama should’ve been more aggressive in using the bully pulpit.

“I think he should’ve understood from day one that the Republicans were not going to cooperate with him. I think he should’ve gone to the people in a more aggressive way” and issued a call to action for supporters of the minimum wage increase to descend on Washington, he said.

He “just can’t sit in a room and negotiate with people who refuse to negotiate,” Sanders added.

And he lamented that Obama “has not tapped the anger and the frustration that the American people feel on many, many issues.”

“The only way we bring about change is when the American people become mobilized,” Sanders said.

One of his major concerns is the influence of billionaire donors and large corporations on politics following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which opened the door to unlimited political expenditures by corporations.

Sanders on Sunday said he opposed billionaire donors from either party engaging in elections, and railed against that decision as one that “will go down in history as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever.”

“I think it’s opening up the road to oligarchy in the United States of America,” Sanders said.