I just read that in a comment in another diary directed at Hillary supporters. Of course the diary had been written primarily to point out that voters had not let Hillary down but the Democratic Party had let the voters down. Naturally it turned into a rousing fight on Bernie losing the Primary so he couldn’t have won anyway and how Hillary refused to actually care about progressive issues or campaign on them and when she went to the right she lost progressive voters. After about two hundred comments I got to the gem in the title.
Here’s a little wake up call for everyone here (that no one will listen to). Hillary was the most qualified – and deeply flawed - candidate to run for president. Bernie was able to reach out and attract thousands / millions of new progressive and independent voters. Bernie lost the primary – 53% of registered democrats thought Hillary was the better candidate. For the first five months of this year much of that 53% absolutely belittled and bashed the 47% who supported Bernie. For the next four months much of that 53% continued to belittle and bash not only that 47% who supported Bernie but also the progressive and independent voters who supported him. Many times before I finally left this site until after the election I read “we don’t need you”. Guess what – the 53% of democrats WERE WRONG!
So now a lot of people are looking back thinking, oh crap we have Donald Trump in a role he is totally unqualified for. How can we survive four years of this – wait drop the how – can we survive four years of this? First thing first we have to figure out how this happened. Step one – admit it is not because America is filled with racist, misogynist, white men. Step two – admit that as qualified as Hillary was she did nothing to excite independent and new voters. Step three – admit that in fact Hillary needed the very voters that much of the 53% of democratic primary voters DROVE AWAY. Finally – and this is big – Step Five – Admit that despite the excitement and the thousands / millions of supporters Bernie brought into the discussion if we are going to go forward we WILL NEED the 53% of democrats who supported Hillary Clinton.
So to all – DO NOT pipe down and shut up. DO stop fighting the last election (we lost). DO acknowledge something has to change. DO find a way to work together for change. The same hope and change Obama inspired us with. The same hope and change Bernie tried to instill in the Democratic Party. The same hope and change that was completely missing in this last campaign which cost us all dearly.
I believe Bernie Sanders would have won this campaign. No one will ever know if that is true. I also believe that we have to run a vastly different type of candidate in the next election(s) if we are going to win those. We can still find out if that is true. I believe we can’t simply throw out or purge anyone willing to work to elect true progressive candidates. I hope we can all agree that is true.