Evidently, the possibility — or specter — of Sanders throwing his rumpled hat into the ring has re-opened an old wound. While I am no Pollyanna, I am a bit surprised at the intensity of the animosity shown towards Sanders, and the predictable return fire towards Clinton.
If we are to hate, I prefer we harness that hatred — past and present — and turn it towards defeating our true enemies: the Republican party, and all that it represents, protects and advances.
It looks like to do that, to unite and further our power, we are gonna have to, yet again, re-litigate the 2016 Democratic primary and Clinton's defeat.
Here is, for what it’s worth, one man's opinion:
“Bernie Bros”
The bile towards those of us here and in our party who you can count on to not only vote, but vote Democrat, no matter the result of the primary is wrong. Disagreement I welcome, hatred and hostility not so much. I believe we must work together to get what we want, and unchecked internal discord harms that goal.
First, let me say that I share the scorn towards those Sanders supporters who, after losing the primary, either took their ball and went home, or voted for Trump. Fuck them. I supported Sanders in the primary and Clinton in the general. Why? ‘Cause I’m a Democrat. To me, that means I fight like hell for my candidate in the primary, then then fight like hell for the Democrat in the general.
The Primary
Clinton won the primary. Was she favored by the DNC? Of course she was. Did Bernie do better in caucus states, which outsized his delegate count compared to the total votes he garnered through the whole process? Of course he did. Did these factors balance themselves out? I dunnow, but probably not.
But this I do know: the process was fair enough to satisfy me, ‘cause I’m a Liberal Democrat, our unity is our power, and few things give me greater joy than beating the crap out of Republicans, ‘cause that’s the way I roll. We know the face of the enemy: today its orange and hideous, yesterday it looked like Caribou Barbie, and tomorrow it will incarnate in another grotesque. And behind it all, the driving engine of religious bigotry, racism, sexism and, of course, the greed.
The General Election
Clinton lost. (I am not assigning blame here, I am stating a fact). I think Kevin Drum states it well enough:
In the end, then, I basically put the onus for Clinton’s defeat on bitter Bernie, crooked Comey, and the wounded working class. They turned a landslide into a close win, which the Electoral College then turned into a defeat. For what it’s worth, I also blame our country’s apparent indifference toward racism and sexism.
Kevin Drum
Bernie banging on about corruption was usually, and sometimes not so much so, a thinly veiled attack on HRC. It is difficult to imagine that banging on for, what, six months? — didn’t have a lasting impact on Clinton’s image.
I think the disconnect between today’s Sanders detractors v. his supporters is that where the critics blame Bernie for unfairly hammering Clinton on her insider status, we supporters view Clinton’s close attachments to Big Business, Big Money and the rich donor class as her weakness as a Democratic politician. ‘Cause, America already has one unabashedly pro-capitalist party, and is in dire need of a center left party that is firmly and effectively pro-worker.
Bernie, with his refusal to take PAC money, took the small donation strategy Obama pioneered and ran with it: an all grass roots funded presidential campaign. Wow! For me, the legal bribery we call campaign donations is the single greatest obstacle to all of us. I know there will ALWAYS be money in politics; it's a matter of degree, and the scales at present are obscenely unbalanced in favor of the rich and powerful.
That is why we who support Sanders and will continue to do so. No one, no one, has the credibility and the platform he does. If he wants to run, he has as much right — and more reason to — than anyone else in America.
And we have the right to support him doing so. Just as you have the right to support whomever you wish.
Let’s continue to hash this out. And let us do that in such a way that we can come together as a party and win. To do that, I urge vigorous and respectful debate. One way or another, someone will win the primary, and that someone will be the Democratic — will be our — candidate for the presidency. And I think we all know how important it is that we win, and win big come 2020.