Bernie spent a life time in politics, but never in a particularly large scale. He represented a relatively small state population wise and no doubt his political events were tame relatively mild affairs. On the national stage he was that “socialist Senator from VT”. He would appear on TV where the hosts would treat him as someone different and with a certain reverence as no one really took the time or effort to target him for criticism or attacks.
Then in his 70s he decided to run for President, not so much because he thought he would win and most likely not even because he thought he would make a great President but because he thought a run would allow him to highlight the positions he was passionate about such as income equality and access to higher education and the need to break up the big banks. Funny thing though, the people had been frustrated of nearly 8 years of Republican obstructionism in Congress. Only the right wing controlled media had done an excellent job of hiding the Republican’s rather callous plan of screwing over the nation for their political gain. Instead the right wing controlled media would blame “Congress” rather than the Republicans controlling Congress. As a result there were a massive dissatisfaction with Washington and people were just as angry with the Democrats as they were the real villains. Well Bernie’s outsider status and a message of fair income and education and reigning in the control of corporate interests really resonated with many of the unhappy people in this nation especially the millennials. On top of that, because Bernie had always been a minor player on the political stage he had never been targeted for a smear campaign like the Clintons or Nancy Pelosi or President Obama or Senator Warren. So without the smear he enjoyed a elder statesmen status on top of his outsider status.
As a result of all of this, campaigning, for Bernie, was not the usual trudging from place to place to talk it up with the people and give speeches to a few 1000 people. Rather it was the life of a rock star. He would travel first class and give speeches in front of 10s of thousands of adoring fans who hung on his every word. That is some pretty heady stuff for a man who for the first 70 years of his life was basically a C or D list celebrity. Suddenly everyone was listening and he had undreamed of crowds chanting his name. Fame and power he never imagined. This sort of rock star treatment can be intoxicating and pretty addicting. As time went on he began to believe his speeches that he would win it all and he had dreams of really being President. Only that wasn’t meant to be and while he convinced himself and his followers that the party would never end, sadly for him and them it did. Suddenly Bernie is facing the prospect of going from one of the most famous and adored people in the Country to going back to being that socialist senator from VT.
That is a tough pill to swallow so it’s quite understandable that Bernie is taking his time swallowing it. For the future of our nation I hope Bernie is the man I think he is and will rise to the occasion and put his self interests aside and does right by our nation and the people who supported him.