2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumTop Sanders supporter: He must endorse Clinton before the Dem convention
Washington Post:Will Sanderss top supporters in the Democratic Party be able to abide that position for much longer?
In an interview with me this afternoon, Dem Rep. Raul Grijalva the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and one of Sanderss most important supporters in Congress said that Sanders should endorse Clinton before the convention, and suggested that the failure to do so could make the job of defeating Donald Trump harder.
Its got to happen prior to the convention, Grijalva told me. It would make coalescing to defeat Donald Trump easier. It makes the process of unifying to defeat Trump and elect Hillary smoother. At the convention, Grijalva added, there should be no uncertainty about Sanderss position, so that the topic can be all about defeating Donald Trump and the content of the platform.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)He'll get off the stage, and out of the way, in late July, and that's about as much as we can expect from him.
Clinton will beat Trump, without his help. (And that won't be forgotten either)
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)He really had built something. And he'll toss it away. Bad decision, IMO.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)that it's not relevant to the task of electing people to office so they can enact policies. It's the Occupy movement with a figurehead--he didn't build it so much as he tapped into it.
when Clinton wins without his help, she'll owe him exactly nothing, and will have that much to fear from him criticizing her going forward.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Adrahil
(13,340 posts)Being the head of movement that makes itself irrelevant is kind of pointless. By not becoming an essential part of the Clinton coalition, he's in a no win situation now. If she loses, he bears some responsibility (from a party point of view) and if she wins, then he establishes himself as irrelevant. Either way, he has lost whatever influence he might have had.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)tallahasseedem
(6,716 posts)If he can't negotiate in the Senate, or even with the people whose party he's running with... then no.
anotherproletariat
(1,446 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)highly functional politician, a sensible consensus builder. He recognized that the time was ripe to establish equality of all men in the new nation, and he organized competently to make it happen in spite of powerful and intense opposition.
People with "extremist" personality tendencies are often considered idealist because they've adopted ideas, which their authors may understand are not doable at present, and insist nothing else will do. They are not really more idealistic than those who hopefully developed the new ideas in the first place, though.
The ACA is a great and hard-won advance over the mess we had before, but some are greatly hostile toward it because they consider it only a giant barrier to their ideal which must be dismantled before the ideal can be pursued.
Which brings us to wondering what Sanders will do next.
Number23
(24,544 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)I don't think he appreciates that it's not helpful to him in the long haul.
It's his choice, though. At the end of the day, we have a nominee, she is getting full bore and highly articulate support from the most respected progressive under the Democratic tent, and she's gonna kick ass in November.
Response to MADem (Reply #7)
geek tragedy This message was self-deleted by its author.
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)There is absolutely NO "upside" to being perceived as outside the ruling government party while staying "inside the tent"--at least putatively. All it does is invite avoidance by one's peers at best, and scorn at worst. And, like it or not, you need those peers if you want to get anything done.
However, if one were to retire, and write a best-selling book, and go on a speaker's tour, that kind of process has potential to be lucrative, at least in the short term. It also provides an unfettered platform for one's views.
I just can't see his game plan. He's not hurting Clinton at this point, every day, people are pivoting and moving on. Warren has seen to that - and she will be well rewarded, in whatever fashion she chooses, for her big-picture dedication.
SIDEBAR: I thought it was odd how Leahy decided NOT to retire after he'd previously said he would (he will be re-elected easily this year). I wonder if he wanted to keep a bit of continuity in the VT Senatorial delegation because he knows something that the rest of us don't know.
I (and, of course, many others) suspect that the VT governor has his eye on the Senate (though he might have trouble after that failed attempt at single payer). A few years' distance between his run and that debacle might not be a bad idea....
It'll be interesting to see what happens.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)JRLeft
(7,010 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)JRLeft
(7,010 posts)in the political process. So you're wrong. Hillary doesn't help herself because she rarely sells her vision. She spends most of her time attacking the idiot instead telling people what her plans are.
She would help herself by explaining her policies.
She would be further ahead IMO if she sold herself more. Explain why the dissenters are wrong about her.
WhiteTara
(29,705 posts)and won't need to work. Jane did make a bundle. and they could travel.
Tal Vez
(660 posts)Sanders is a professional politician. He's been around a long time and he will figure out what is best for him to do. That's why he is still around after all these years.
It is interesting to see the difference between his approach and the approach of Elizabeth Warren. Obviously, she has an eye to the future. She sees where things are going. She knows that 2016 has the potential to be a very important year in terms of electing folks who can make some important changes in this country. It is clear that Elizabeth Warren wants to participate.
fun n serious
(4,451 posts)It migh be better that he doesn't.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)Unless put to extreme duress by the Democrats (e.g., demoting him in his committee assignments). I don't think he will because of character issues that were evident from the beginning, indeed, that have been talked about for many years: not a team player, doesn't abide anyone or anything that interferes with his own ideas, won't compromise, self-absorbed and self-righteous. Colleagues and people who have worked for him have said this, so I'm not just stating my own opinion.
But it IS important that he do so. Why? Because without that white flag lifted, his pledged delegates are being given the signal to fight on at the convention. Which is only good for Republicans and Donald Trump. Which is bad for the whole country. He needs to put country before self.
MaggieD
(7,393 posts)With Warren out there stumping it really does not matter what Bernie does or doesn't do.
Frances
(8,545 posts)leftofcool
(19,460 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... and he's been teasing the news media with too many "important speeches" (that were actually just a rehash of the campaign) instead of being important enough to actually be breaking news. As soon as the media figures out that he's got nothing new to say, they cut-away to commercial or return to their regularly scheduled programming.
Nobody likes to be played. If he ever does concede and endorse, it will be a non-event. No network will cover it live. CNN may give him a 25-character blurb on their scrolling ticker at most.
Human101948
(3,457 posts)Hey, get over it. Hillary is the nominee.
comradebillyboy
(10,144 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Gothmog
(145,176 posts)He lost his chance to be relevant in the campaign, IMHO.
BlueMTexpat
(15,368 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)name mentioned regularly -- that's always my first response. WHO CARES?
tblue37
(65,340 posts)now he sees his endorsement as the best bargaining chip he has left.
He also has to ease his more intense supporters into accepting that he endorses her. If he gives in too quickly, they could turn away from the Democratic party completely and even vote against our down ticket candidates.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)not in prime time anyways.
I don't think he really cares about that sort of thing.
Andy823
(11,495 posts)The vast majority of Democrats that supported him have already come over to the Clinton side, those more "intense" supporters are the one who hate Hillary, and no matter what Bernie does or says, they will NEVER vote for her, period. Many of them are not even Democrats. If he is wasting time trying to cater to those kinds of supporters, he will end up with no part of trying to change things in the future. He could really make a difference if he wants to, but the way he has been acting makes me wonder if he even wants to anymore.
CrowCityDem
(2,348 posts)He will have not done the bare minimum a Democrat should do to ensure they control the White House.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)It's really sad watching somebody destroy themself and everything they spent a lifetime working on over ego driven bullshit because they lost.
MaggieD
(7,393 posts)But yeah, it's sad. I know they are being nice to him now, but I think after the election he is going to be a very lonely guy up in the senate.
Gothmog
(145,176 posts)tonyt53
(5,737 posts)May as well.
LongtimeAZDem
(4,494 posts)obamanut2012
(26,068 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)With Warren out there - with Pres Obama, VP Biden, Michelle and Jill ready - Bernie is already an afterthought. He could have made such a difference but decided a hissy fit was more appropriate. His loss.
enid602
(8,616 posts)Ah yes, the long awaited Bernexit.
Maru Kitteh
(28,340 posts)politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)irrelevant he has become to the majority of us out here. I saw the interview with Andrea Mitchell this morning and for a second I thought about how pleasant the past week has been for me since I hadn't had to listen to his whining about how Hillary had to accept HIS Platform in order to obtain his support. I guess he's seen the handwriting on the wall and with so much more important things happening around the world, no one missed him, which is why I'm sure he leaped at the invitation by Mitchell to be interviewed this a.m.
There's too much at stake in November for us to become the disfunctional party that the GOP has become, just to satisfy one man's narcissism. Bernie's had his run and he was successful in pushing her further to the left than she was at the start of the campaign. Time to get off the stage now. I'm sure that he can now go write a book about it and all his supporters will buy it and he'll become one of the one percenters that he seemed to despise while on the campaign trail. The Clinton's had no real money to speak of until they left office and both wrote books which were best sellers.
glowing
(12,233 posts)Why is it important he endorse Hillary at this point before the platform is built? And why is DU allowing for a democrat to be lamblasted.
Maru Kitteh
(28,340 posts)as unseemly toward the Democratic Party and/or the Democratic nominee.
To heck with endorsing, how about the basic sportsmanship that we teach and expect in youth sports? When you have a contest, and you lose, you shake hands and congratulate the winner.
Odd to say you'll vote for someone else when you haven't even bothered to admit that you've lost a contest, don't you think?
So weird to give an interview months after you were mathematically eliminated and weeks after the final contests were all completed, claiming you won't admit you lost because suddenly, you think it's up to you to fight for exactly the things the whole party and the nominee have been fighting for already for decades?
So unusual.
See, when a Democrat runs intentionally afoul of the party in general, and the nominee, they become the subject of open criticism and critique by Democrats. This being Democratic Underground, one should expect to see the same here.
It's nothing new for Democrats, or Democratic Underground.
glowing
(12,233 posts)membership star or that I even rarely frequent this site. Never have I felt as if
I was dealing with Republicans on DU since Clinton announced.
Maru Kitteh
(28,340 posts)It's difficult to imagine that anyone should be surprised to find that the Democratic Party and Democratic Party presidential nominees are embraced and defended on Democratic Underground. It's difficult to imagine anyone asserting with any credibility that doing so is "republican."
Response to Maru Kitteh (Reply #66)
Post removed
Maru Kitteh
(28,340 posts)"This is why since 2004, I haven't bought a membership star"
Onlooker
(5,636 posts)Last edited Thu Jun 30, 2016, 02:50 AM - Edit history (2)
The fact is that he's a really smart guy who, despite his views, came close to winning the Democratic nomination. His campaign was brilliant in many respects. I think he wants Hillary to win, and he's playing it the way he thinks is best, not the way the pundits think is best.
Sanders is no fool. If his supporters see him as a tool of the Democratic establishment, he will be less influential. He is not a tool. My guess is that he will endorse her by arguing that the movement he helped create can achieve more progress under her than under Donald Trump. But he's going to time his endorsement for maximum exposure. If he did it now, hardly anyone would be attention. If he does it right before the Democratic Convention, everyone will be paying attention.
randome
(34,845 posts)Maru Kitteh
(28,340 posts)Is this where we are supposed to say megga-dittos or something?
mcar
(42,307 posts)I agree completely. He's losing any influence he may have had. I truly don't get the strategy.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)and look at all the results while reciting hundreds of things that are wrong but not offer a single solution.
That's exactly what it's like.
Beausoir
(7,540 posts)grossproffit
(5,591 posts)NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)ecstatic
(32,701 posts)LongtimeAZDem
(4,494 posts)akbacchus_BC
(5,704 posts)He already said he will vote for Mrs. Clinton. All Mr. Sanders wants is for Mrs. Clinton to work for poor people, raise minimum wage. Is that so terrible for a person who has gained so much momentum in the primaries? He is looking out for poor people and the middle class!
And you know what, she is listening and having gone through a primary a second time, am sure she knows what she has to do!
Orsino
(37,428 posts)And the headline changes "should" to "must."
youceyec
(394 posts)up I will do what I can to make sure he does not win reelection in senate. And Im not alone.