I said in my post how he still doesn't even identify as an official Democrat.
There are plenty of people with his opinion, or even more liberal than Sanders, who DO and always have identified as Democrats, though.
The part has always had Sanders-style Democrats, as well as Webb-style Democrats. And Webb-style Democrats have been in the minority for well more than a decade.
I don't say the Democratic Party isn't moving to the left, either. (though it's not nearly moving as far to the left as Republicans are to the right. There's not as much different between Hillary and Sanders as there is between some Republicans)
That's true, but think of it this way: If Webb declared a run for president in 2008, he would've been seen as a serious contender (remember the pining for Mark Warner and Evan Bayh?). If Sanders declared a run for president in 2008, he would've been laughed off the stage like Kucinich was. So perhaps it's not so much the base itself changing, but the base's willingness to spurn their ideological soulmates in favor of party approved pre-packaged centrists. Either way, it still has the functional result of pushing the party to the left.
It could also be the result of winning two presidential elections in a row, now that I think about it. Would Sanders really be getting momentum if Romney won in 2012, with the main narrative for that victory likely being "Obama was too far left"?
Let's be thankful, then, that Obama didn't lose in 2012, if the outcome would have been the Democratic establishment triangulating even more. I voted for Romney in 2012, because I was a conservative at the time and I liked the man, but the Democratic Party really can't go any further right without isolating its progressive wing. I'm not sure how you can argue with Blue3 that the Party is moving as far to the left as the GOP is moving right. The Party's leader, our President, is pushing for a massive free trade deal bigger than NAFTA, and a few yours ago proposed reducing Social Security benefits. Also, the Party conceded AFDC and Glass-Steagall to the GOP in 1996 and 1999, respectively. FDR, Truman, LBJ, and Carter (on foreign policy, at least) were way to the left of Clinton and Obama. Of the current candidates running for the Democratic nomination, Sanders is overall the most progressive, but on certain issues (gun control and immigration; military intervention), O'Malley and Chafee, respectively are both to the left of Sanders.
