Whoa! What a Quarter:
• Bernie raised lots of money, and
• Hillary raised even more.
Before they start spending more of it against each other,
…there is a window of crisis-cum-opportunity for Hillary to rise to the occasion, by finding new depths and boldness within herself, and seizing this exceptional moment.
The crisis, for Hillary’s present campaign strategy, is that Bernie’s campaign has demonstrated enough fundraising ability, and more than enough volunteer and social media enthusiasm, to compete for the duration of the Democratic primary schedule...
during which:
• Big Money’s excessive economic and political influence will remain a front-burner issue;
• Much of Hillary’s fundraising and spending will be perceived by many as confirmation that Hillary’s policies will be deferential to Big Money;
• Hillary’s support from the party establishment tends to anger or demoralize as many people as its persuades or impresses;
• Hillary incrementally co-opting parts of Bernie’s platform can easily be perceived as too little, too late, too cynical and too weak (See: Keystone XL pipeline);
• Criticism of Bernie will risk angering the base and splitting the party.
...and further bad news is that the ongoing failure, of Jeb and other insiders to poll well among Republicans, shows that anti-insider sentiment extends far beyond the Democratic base, and will be a factor in the general election.
The opportunity for Hillary is that she can -- right before the eyes of the nation and the world -- rescue herself and the rest of us from a marathon of fratricide, and turn herself into a more important historical figure than Bill or Barack, by recognizing the tide-changing nature of this moment, and seizing it, by:
• Immediately adopting most of Bernie’s policies, including all related to banks, corruption, climate, prisons and education-funding.
• Telling her Big Money friends:
“I am being made to do this (as invited by FDR and BHO) by voters who remember your roulette gambling, bail-out, bonuses, and ever-clearer use of money to purchase veto power over government policies, and are now beginning to panic about money-subordinated climate disaster. My surgical implementation of these policies is your only alternative to being ripped to pieces by another populist President, or by pitchforks and mobs in the streets...”
• Telling Bernie:
"I’ll give you whatever assurances you need of my commitment to implement 9/10 of your policies. Let’s both save our money for voter registration and general election GOTV, which we conduct as a unity ticket combining my money/network/experience with your policies, passion and credibility."
• Telling voters:
"I played the game the way I found it, until you “made” me see a better way. Thank you for changing the game back to what I hoped it could become, back when I first got into politics."