2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I'm with Howard Dean: Bernie is not a Democrat [View all]Hortensis
(58,785 posts)for years as its suits him and at the same time using it and its resources as it suits him. Barney Frank feels he owes a lot to the party and has never been asked to pay up -- because the party never saw him as a threat, until now.
Bernie hasn't been running against the GOP, he's running against a democratic president and liberal Democrat candidates. He can't pick up enough voters on issues by claiming Obama and his opponents aren't left enough, so he's tapping into resentment by claiming the party and its processes are corrupted and rigged. This is a bad thing, and undoubtedly potentially destructive for the party. Just look at the very high levels of anti-Democrat hostility burning here -- on DU!
Also, the DNC is losing control of the nominating process same as the GOP. If we're not careful we could also become a promotional venue for people trying to sell books and pump up their speaking fees. As former chair of the DNC, Dean is going to be very concerned with procedural issues and how to help it survive as an organization that can get people elected. The party can't control Bernie, and allowing someone acting like an enemy off the party run under its banner may not turn out in retrospect to be the smartest thing we could have done.
These issues, IMO, are very much aside from the fire Bernie has lit in the grassroots belly. Personally, I've thought all along that the Bernie phenomenon is good for us, but then I didn't realize until I looked around here a few weeks ago just how cannibalizing his campaign is turning out to be. A lot of his supporters here now think all their problems have been caused by Democratic Party betrayals.