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Bernie Sanders, presidential candidate and firebrand of the left, has a lot of respect for President Obama. But he believes the president made a major mistake after running 鈥渙ne of the great campaigns in American history鈥�: He left his activist supporters behind.

鈥淭he biggest mistake that Barack Obama made鈥� was essentially to tell his supporters, 鈥淭hank you very much for electing me, I鈥檒l take it from here,鈥� Senator Sanders told reporters at a Monitor-hosted breakfast Thursday. 鈥淚 will not make that mistake.鈥�

Sanders, a Vermont Independent running for the Democratic nomination, has been drawing the biggest crowds of any candidate running, from either major party. The challenge he faces is to turn that interest into an organized movement.

鈥淚 do not believe that any president who鈥檚 standing up for the working class of this country can be successful without a mobilized, activist, grass-roots movement behind him or her,鈥� Sanders said. 鈥淪o I will be working hard to make sure that that mobilization exists.鈥�

Sanders was also adamant about talking issues, not political positioning or strategy. When asked what he thought Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton鈥檚 biggest vulnerabilities were, he balked.

鈥淐ampaigns are not baseball games,鈥� Sanders said.

Jeb Bush has a new campaign manager? 鈥淣obody cares!鈥�

鈥淭his campaign is about the fact that this country faces enormously serious problems,鈥� Sanders says.

He ticks through his list:

鈥淲hy is the middle class of this country disappearing?

鈥淚s it moral that we have massive wealth and income inequality?

鈥淎re the scientists right that climate change is one of the great planetary crises that we face and that we鈥檝e got to move aggressively on it?

鈥淪hould college education be available to all regardless of their income?

鈥淲hy are we the only major country on Earth without a national health-care program guaranteeing health care for all people?"

Sanders鈥檚 solutions are controversial 鈥� a reflection of his belief in Scandinavian-style Democratic socialism. He wants 鈥淢edicare for all,鈥� free tuition at all public universities, a $15-an-hour minimum wage, paid leave for parents of newborns, paid sick leave, and paid vacation.

Sanders acknowledges that his health-care proposal would require higher taxes, but Americans would come out ahead, he says.

鈥淵es, of course taxes would go up to pay for health care,鈥� Sanders says. 鈥淏ut you know what would go down? Private insurance. You would not be paying private insurance. So if I said to you, 鈥榃ell, you鈥檙e not going to pay Blue Cross $12,000 a year but you鈥檙e going to pay $10,000 more in taxes, are you going to be crying? No.鈥�

Sanders promises to unveil a comprehensive tax plan, which his team is still working on. He said it would 鈥渆nd loopholes that allow corporations to stash profits in the Cayman Islands,鈥� and include a progressive individual income tax.

Back to the question of Mrs. Clinton: 鈥淚 like Hillary, I respect Hillary, I disagree with her.鈥�

And he promises not to come out with any negative ads. He says he鈥檚 never done one, throughout his political career 鈥� from his first successful election in 1981 as mayor of Burlington, Vt., to his election to the House, then to the Senate 鈥� and doesn鈥檛 plan to start now.