Hillary Clinton WILL be the nominee of the party. There is no doubt about that. The only question will be how will Bernie exit. His window to exit gracefully will be closing very quickly after this evening.
When this election started, I supported Hillary but was thrilled to have Bernie in the race and thought he would highlight many important issues. Eight years ago I also started off supporting Hillary – and Obama won me over during the campaign. This time however, Bernie has affirmatively turned me against him. What was once a campaign based on issues (however unrealistic his proposals) has turned into a hypocritical, seemingly egotistical, mess where he is putting all the issues he stands for aside.
Bernie has railed against Hillary for accepting money from businesses and PACs. Explaining that this is the system we are currently in and we have to battle the republicans in the money race falls on deaf ears. However, that “system” explanation is perfectly fine for Bernie to use when saying the super-delegates should overturn the vote. There is no way to reconcile those two positons. In fact, his position is far worse. Just yesterday in his rally he somehow stated within about 30 seconds that the election system is corrupt and we have to restore one-person-one-vote while saying it’s fine for the superdelegates to overturn the will of those voters. Which is it, Bernie? He says he’ll win because he tells the truth – yet he’s been lying to his supporters about what can be accomplished and the state of the election. His surrogate claimed yesterday superdelegates should switch because they supported Hillary “sight-unseen”. Seriously? First time in history that term has been applied to her and probably one of the most untruthful disingenuous statements I’d heard.
Tonight we will coronate the first female presidential nominee and she deserves the pomp, circumstance and respect that other candidates have gotten. He can either congratulate her on winning the majority of pledged delegates (even if he never technically concedes). Or he can undercut her celebration. If he does a single thing this evening to pour water on her celebration, I think that graceful exit window slams shut. I could care less if he stays in the race or not. Too many of his supporters confuse running the race with how he runs the race. Those are two different concepts. From what I’ve read, most Hillary supporters have not been telling him to get out . . . at least until recently when he has now indicated a willingness to harm to party to advance his ambitions.
She has been the subject of sexism and far beyond double standards. In any other contest winning by 1 vote equals a win. She is being held to a far higher standard. Let’s put it this way – California is MEANINGLESS in the actual outcome of the election but how many news stories have you seen talking about “what if she loses California” and how it “strengthens” Bernie’s claims. To put it politely, BULLSHIT. It means nothing. It means she wins by a couple of delegates less than she would have. It means SHE WINS — just like with every other candidate in recent history (as even Bernie can tell you from his support of Obama).
Bernie needs some good advisors now to help him exit gracefully or at least learn how to stay in gracefully. I’ve been following this since the beginning and you definitely can see a palpable change in the way Bernie is being perceived lately. It’s getting more and more negative – and not due to any fixing of the election – it’s due to his behavior.
I guess we’ll see what his choice is very soon. I wouldn’t personally bet on either outcome right now.
