I come not to condemn Bernie, but to mourn him.
I woke up this morning to read up on the latest events on Dkos and found that Bernie Sanders did not congratulate Hillary Clinton on her victory, concede the race and urge his supporters to back her fully in the general election.
This is a disappointment as I fully expected that this would be what he would do. I fully expected Bernie would declare the race was over but the revolution would continue. I fully expected he would tell his supporters that they had accomplished a great deal in getting the progressive message into the halls of power at the DNC and that the way to continue to have influence was to show the power they had in defeating the Republicans and electing Democrats. By this means, the ideals, values and issues of the Bernie campaign would be shown to mirror those of not just his supporters or even Democrats, but of a majority of Americans.
Regretfully, I was proven to be wrong.
Bernie did not concede and his surrogates are insisting that his campaign continues.
The result has been predictably obvious. Instead of uniting, putting aside differences and forgiving grievances, Sanders supporters and Hillary supporters are once again squabbling like cats and dogs. There are the predictable declarations of never supporting Hillary and condemnations of Sanders as a destructive agent to progressivism.
The truly sad fact that has not been realized by this action is that Bernie has effectually defeated his revolution. The opportunity he had to influence the direction of the Democratic party for the next 10 years has been lost.
The Bernie campaign identified clearly that there was a large portion of the Democratic electorate that wanted the party to move further left. There was an immediate effect in response to this. The Democratic party actually moved left. Not just Hillary who adopted a much more progressive platform than most expected, but Democrats in Congress, in individual states and in the rank and file began taking much more progressive and liberal positions and fighting for these ideals.
However, there came a time when to truly advance the progressive agenda, Bernie had to forget about winning the nomination and move toward expanding the influence of the movement that sprang up behind him. There came a time when Bernie had to realize that he was not going to win and that continued efforts to do so were causing more harm than good. That time came at the end of April. It was his first test of leadership.
Bernie failed that test.
Continuing the fight with the determination he demonstrated may have been excusable in his mind as fighting 100% for the progressive cause, but it was in actuality a determination to launch a scorched earth campaign where the end result was either victory or complete destruction.
Having failed that test; Bernie’s next test came at the end of the primaries. He had his string of losses. He was 400 delegates behind and there was absolutely without doubt no possible path to victory that any decent candidate would be willing to accept. He had his meeting with the President. Hillary was endorsed and became the presumptive nominee. Now was the time for Bernie to move what remained of his supporters and the cause he had championed so earnestly towards the general election, defeating the Republicans and influencing as much as possible the direction of the party going forward. Bernie’s primary concern at this point should have been to make certain that the progressive issues adopted and embraced by the Democratic Party, Hillary and the down ballot candidates during the primaries remained in the forefront.
He again, regrettably has failed that test.
The result is being witnessed on Dkos even now.
What is worse, with this latest failure, Bernie has become completely irrelevant. Even if he concedes tomorrow, the well has been poisoned, the bitterness and rancor will only continue. Those of his supporters remaining will become increasingly embittered towards the Democrats and will have no desire to support them in any election, regardless of who they are facing or what the consequences of loss will be to liberal and progressive values. Those Democrats who oppose him will increasingly take a jaundiced view of any future candidate who comes preaching the message of Wall Street excess, income inequality or Big Banks.
Last night, Bernie diluted his message and the causes he championed to as thin a gruel as he could.
An often repeated claim is that Bernie’s campaign served to awaken millions of new voters to the electoral process and to bring them to the voting booth, many for the first time. Yet when you consider the excitement Ralph Nader generated in 2000 and how quickly it dissipated following that election loss. There was no post 2000 groundswell that built on Nader’s accomplishments; there was no sincere, organized or determined effort to create a viable progressive movement that would draw in new voters who would turn out repeatedly in every election. What signs are there that Bernie’s movement isn’t just Ralph Nader on steroids? Why should there be any faith that his supporters will not go back to sleep after the November race is over? If Bernie is as incapable of accepting pragmatic reality, why should there be any faith that his die-hard supporters will be able to? Isn’t it much more likely, that post November, they will once again withdraw from the political process much as Nader’s supporter did before?
Of greater concern, are the anecdotal stories I have read of Bernie supporting Democrats, some of them lifelong Democrats, tearing up their membership cards and declaring that they would no longer support Democratic candidates for office. If these reports are beyond just a few people simply expressing bitterness that their favoured candidate lost, if they in fact represent a significant minority of Democratic members, then Bernie’s actions have in fact become destructive to the progressive cause and have hurt the advancement of progressive agenda. Rather than bringing in new voters for Democrats, voters who could influence the direction of the party, he has in fact driven voters away from the Democratic Party and ultimately weakened it.
If that is the case, that would be a true, unforgivable failure.