In the month since his 2020 exit, Sanders has sent mixed signals

[ehrnst]

Since the start of his 2020 campaign, Sanders, an independent from Vermont, assured anyone who asked that he planned to support the Democratic nominee. Less than a week after ending his campaign, he joined Biden in a livestream to announce his endorsement of the former vice president — far earlier than in 2016, when he took more than a month before endorsing then-rival Hillary Clinton.

But with a section of Sanders supporters, almost 1 out of 4 according to a recent poll, still less than enthusiastic about getting behind the 77-year old Biden, Sanders — himself 78 — has shown little effort to bring them aboard so far.

“I think it could be a problem if Bernie doesn’t begin to weave the importance of supporting Joe Biden into his public discourse,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat of Missouri, said in an interview. “He has not done that yet."

..............................................

But Sanders hasn’t used his unmatched email list to fundraise for Biden, despite doing so in recent weeks for COVID-19-related causes and progressive congressional candidates who’ve supported his candidacy in the past.

His livestream events with high-profile guests including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have largely focused on the pandemic but haven’t referred to Biden, his campaign or his plans.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1203131

[Squinch]

1. Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[LizBeth]

7. Right. He has really shown us what kind of man he is the last 4 or 5 yrs.

[lark]

2. Sanders is showing his true level of support for Dems.

It's non-existent. If it doesn't glorify him, he won't be doing it, is what he's shown us.

[Demsrule86]

4. What Sander has never understood is issues are meaningless unless you win.

[ehrnst]

6. Yep - Voters are interested in more than "the issues" because if "being right on the issues"

was enough to be a good POTUS, then a majority of Democrats would be just as qualified.

Sanders supporters always focused on the "issues" because Sanders didn't have a track record that indicated the skills, both soft and hard, to be effective in getting them into existence.

People skills, negotiation skills, diplomatic skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to absorb new information and make appropriate changes in one's plans and stratgies are all things necessary to being POTUS. Warren talked about Biden's ability to genuinely listen to people and have the humility to be persuaded.

Those skills were obvious in Obama and made up for his comparative lack of experience and a track record.

Those are not strengths Sanders has displayed, so many of Sanders' supporters often talk about those qualities in other candidates as being signs of weakness or corruptability. I think Sanders is pleased when he hears that, and that's why he doesn't contradict them when they accuse other liberal politicians who may be more successful than he is of those things. Even if he's stated that he endorses such a politician for POTUS.

I don't think Sanders understands his shortcomings in those areas. That video where he talks about those things like remembering birthdays as "bullshit" that gets in the way his work showed that doesn't see the value in those soft skills. He doesn't have them, so I suppose it's a defense to dismiss them as something that "gets in the way" of someone who believes they can save the world.

[comradebillyboy]

5. A person the Democrats should never count on to be

helpful in any way.