So Kevin Drumm had this provocative piece in MoJo: Here's Why I Never Warmed Up to Bernie Sanders. I found it on a link from the funny and talented Matt Binder who does great work at Cafe.com. Matt was outraged by the piece. I wanted to point out that the article had some merit.
Fearing that any further comment on Twitter would be provocative but not productive, I’ll try to summarize quickly -- but with more than 140 characters -- why the piece has merit. I don’t want to tackle head-on Kevin’s claim that the Bernie campaign is a ‘con’. Maybe that will come through better if I explain why, although a big admirer of Sanders, I voted for Clinton. I’ll do that through a quick set of best, worst and mid range scenarios.
BEST: I couldn’t make this about Bernie’s win. Instead it goes like this: Clinton wins the nomination The GOP propaganda machine goes all out against her but that works only with their base. After all, they have been in all out battle against her for 25 years. She goes on to win the General. Dare I hope for Republican voter collapse and takeover of the House with a Hillary vs. Donald election? (Probably not.) Clinton goes on to govern with support, at least for a while, of a Democratic Senate. Some reasonable Supreme Court appointments are made. Not to get into too much detail, some progressive policies are instituted.
WORST: Bernie wins the nomination and faces for the first time the full blast of the GOP propaganda machine. The White House is lost to an unthinkable candidate. The rest is left to the reader’s imagination.
Mid Range: Much like the BEST case, but let’s add the dissatisfied progressive voter effect. Those 18-29 year olds Matt refers to are not happy with Clinton’s too-concessionary policies toward corporate power. They stay engaged and help elect more progressive representatives in the 2018 election. Actually, this is probably the BEST plus one. But if Bernie somehow got elected, his ‘revolution’ wouldn’t be legislated by any reasonable scenario in the House or Senate. And this group would more likely drop out of action discouraged. Back to you, Kevin.