No need to add anything about the unfortunate blog war here on Daily Kos and elsewhere between Bernie and Hillary supporters. Yes, in the end, we will (hopefully) rally around the Democratic nominee for all the obvious reasons. So the difference between these candidates, as many have written, is not so much the the goals of a more just and sustainable world by way of drastically less income inequality and clear-eyed climate reality, to name the two most overwhelming issues, but how to get there. Do we keep trying to bend the arc of history, as Barack Obama has done, with steady if admittedly-too-little progress? Or do we go for broke with a “political revolution.”
Pragmatism versus idealism, as the pundits correctly say, diagnosing the Democratic condition.
Why would one support revolution, and therefore Bernie? Because one might conclude that the world is so fucked that we can no longer settle for half measures. The odds may be longer that Bernie can prevail against the Republicans; and Bernie would certainly face formidable challenges in governing with Republicans in charge of the Congress. But the hour is too late for us to pull our punches. It’s Bernie or bust. This comes from an understandable sense of urgency; indeed, of despair over the truly scary state of the world. Call it hope but this is a desperate hope borne of a not-unreasonable belief that the apocalypse is imminent.
Why, on the other hand, would one support pragmatism, or the best we can realistically hope for, as Hillary supporters might frame it? Because one might fear that a failed revolution will be for naught, and half measures are far better than nothing. This, too might be characterized as despair over a mistaken belief that an unapologetic change agent like Bernie is electable. But it can as easily be understood as hope that incremental progress can avert the same apocalypse, which is, perhaps, not quite so imminent as to require revolution. No drama Obama has, after all, been a highly consequential president. Just consider the alternative history we might now be living had he not been elected over McCain/Romney.
Surely we all know all of this: that Bernie supporters and Hillary supporters are really on the same side, that we see pretty much the same set of issues in pretty much the same way and differ only on how to confront them.
So, tactically, the Bernie supporters argue that Bernie really can win. He’s not another McGovern, Mondale or Dukakis. Somehow, possibly because the hour is so late or because it’s not 1972 or 1984 or 1988 anymore, this time is different.
And, tactically, the Hillary supporters say, yes the hour is late, so let’s not risk the next four or eight years on President Trump, President Rubio or President Bush III. Even President Kasich, the alleged moderate in the clown car, would doom us. Hillary, we believe, is more electable, more reminiscent of her husband and Barack than to McGovern, Mondale or Dukakis.
Of course, from my headline, not to mention my argument here, it’s pretty obvious I’m on the side of pragmatism. But I believe that I understand the passions driving the Bernie supporters. I remember clearly how I felt working in the McGovern campaign, way, way back in 1972. (How could Nixon beat McGovern? Unthinkable! Surely voters weren’t that stupid?) When we are surrounded by thousands of others who think as we do we are easily impressed by the depth of our collective intensity of feeling, and we convince ourselves that we really can win. Indeed, that losing is not possible
Ah, but we can lose, easily, as we did in three modern presidential elections. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party can and has chosen the party’s nominee. It hasn’t exactly worked out well. Maybe this is one reason older people favor Hillary, not because we are less progressive, but because we remember this not-so-ancient history.
Please Bernie supporters: Hillary is not the enemy, nor is Bernie an obvious choice for any right-thinking lefty. We agree that the situation is dire and the hour is late. Let us all take a deep breath and resolve that however the primaries unfold, we will work together to keep hope alive and despair at bay.