If you ask a Sanders supporter whether she thinks it ' s important to fight for racial justice and reproductive rights , she will probably say yes . If you ask a Clinton supporter whether he thinks it ' s important to fight against wealth and income inequality , he will also probably say yes . And when Clinton talked about income inequality , no one really bought what she said . The problem isn ' t that Bernie wants to go beyond identity politics , it ' s that Hillary never really tried to . Identity politics don ' t solve problems like widespread financial insecurity or the cost of colleges . They can help in tailoring policy to the correct needs , but you still need the right goals . You don ' t solve a disparity in employment rates between different races by making more from one group into CEO ' s , that doesn ' t trickle down , you actually have to do the legwork . A lot of democrats like to use identity politics as a shield when someone points out that they are looking out for the rich , rather than the poor or middle class . That is why identity politics isn ' t enough it was always supposed to be accompanied by socially responsible economic policy .