There is little doubt that Bernie Sanders crystallized and lead, what he calls “A Movement”, far far exceeding the wildest expectations of anyone, pundit or other. The fact that his prominence and exposure was catapulted and magnified by a media desperate to turn Hillary Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic presidential challenger from a coronation into a dramatic horse race does not diminish his amazing achievement. He has singlehandedly corralled millions into spotlighting onto, what has been the issue of the ages and the focus of activists, philosophers, philanthropists, economists, humanitarians and of course politicians, - the concentration of wealth into just a few and the process needed for a more equitable distribution. His ambition was far greater than creating an awareness and even a “movement” he wanted to effect his policy and goals by becoming the President of the most powerful and influential country in the world. He called it a revolution.
Sanders has in the recent past abandoned his approach just to focus on the issues and has become increasingly negative in his stump speeches attacking Hillary personally. His New York campaign and his mean spirited grudging concession speech is leaving a sour taste. This comes strangely from a contender whose strongest claim to electability was that he was not just another politician. This change of tactic by Sanders not only smacks of desperation but evoked, for the first time, a rebuke from the Clinton communications director, Ms. Palmieri, who challenged Sanders to desist from his destructive path.
So it is crunch time for Senator Sanders to decide who and what he really stands for in this crucial election which will dictate the direction this country will go. Does he want to spread his message while racking up support and leverage for the Democratic Party Convention or does he want to escalate a losing battle and go for broke at the risk of undoing all he has achieved to date?
SANDER’S ONGOING DENIAL
So Sander’s problem is that now that it is patently obvious that he will not achieve his Presidential goal where does he go from here? The Berne currently is in perpetual ongoing denial. He refuses to program into his reality that he is not going to be the Democratic nominee and as a result forces even his most ardent followers to question what are his ultimate objectives and how good is his judgement. Who and what is he really? Is he willing to risk a Trump or a Cruz Presidency because he really believes that philosophically Hillary only wants a $12 an hour minimum Federal wage because she has been bought off by Goldman Sachs? Or will he accept the explanation that her compromise is a political calculation from caucusing that that an increase from the current $7.25 to $12 just might get through? He surely too has enough political nouse to compute the fact that it is a myth that he and his Movement could be elected into the White House with such an overwhelming countrywide majority that Congress will cry uncle and just enact his agenda! That is what in fact he is still arguing when confronted with hard political questions. Has he forgotten the closest anyone reached such a broad populist swell with two million citizens at his inauguration was Barak Obama and the Republican Congressional response was to block him on every turn on issue after issue.
BERNIE WANTS NON DEMOCRATS TO ELECT HIM DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE.
All of the above and much more indicates that objective facts are not moving Bernie. So what else does he just not get? He now argues that the reason that he will win the Democratic nomination is that the 502 “super delegates” pledged to Hillary will join the 38 he has in his column. He forgets that not so long ago he declared the whole concept of this mainly non elected group of delegates undemocratic! Also he has for decades shunned the Democratic Party so why should the party faithful back him to be the leader of the Party against the wishes of the Primary electorate? Then there is his paranoid attack that Clinton and the Democratic National Party are working hand and hand. The reason for his assessment is that some of the Clinton fund raisers are for other Party candidates in the General election.
Just in case he hasn’t irritated the Party faithful enough he claims that one of the reasons he isn’t going to win the Democratic Party nomination is that in many of the Primary contests they only let the Democrats vote!. Some of his Democratic critics claim that his purist credentials are somewhat dented by the fact that if he really was so congruent, honest and pure he would have stood as an Independent and not unashamedly become a Democrat to increase his chances of becoming President and then wail that his non Democratic constituency cannot always vote for him.
So Bernie’s continued stated argument that the Democratic “super delegate” establishment are going to anoint him the Party’s leader is singularly lacking in judgement.
BERNIE IS THE BEST MAN TO BEAT TRUMP/CRUZ
The Sander’s camp rationalization as to why the Democratic Party hierarchy must throw out one of their own is that he has by far the best chance of winning the Presidency. He quotes some of the polls that back him up. These polls are as valid as those that he frequently trots out that at the very start of the Primary Campaigns gave Hillary a seventy percent lead over him. He was unknown then and the polls reflected that. So far he has not been tested or hammered by the Republicans and the polls are indicative of that as well. The Republican PACs in several Primary fights against Hillary helped Sanders. To date the GOP system haven’t laid a finger on him and he should ask himself why? Neither has Clinton. For example, Hillary never countered I will tell you what I said to Goldman Sachs if you release your talks in Cuba and Russia but Trump will mercilessly harp on that. If he became the Democratic nominee his socialist past will be blasted off the face of the earth. His attack on Israel has gained minimal attention in the Democratic primaries as he has focussed on Netanyahu. However, Israel is an article of faith with the GOP and the electorate generally. Israel is not only an emotional issue in the United States it is a security issue and Sanders’ policies and foreign policy ignorance generally will be at kindest a handicap.
While the outcome between Cruz/Trump and Sanders is not discernible at this stage and could go either way the Republican Party have given up on either of their standard bearers beating Hillary. The Koch brothers have pulled their billion out of the GOP convention to nominate the Republican Presidential challenger in Cleveland.
SANDERS TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT TO JUNE
The Sanders team has with irrelevant nuances said they are continuing and they can still win. The message is mixed as to how. One line is that there are the super delegates and another is that they can still win the Primaries. Their latest rationale for continuing is that they owe it to their supporters who have worked so hard. They cannot disappoint them so they have to continue. What a crock. Surely this is all about changing the direction of the country? If Bernie continues on his all or nothing approach laced by increasing personal attacks on Clinton this is really going to turn ugly. Trump is already quoting Sander's attacks on Clinton on the stump. Hillary will have to drop her conciliatory tone that there are far fewer issues that separate Bernie and her than divide them. It is already hotting up. Obama’s former campaign manager, David Plouffe, has alleged that Sanders is committing fraud by collecting money when he has no path to victory.
At the end of the day Bernie by continuing full throttle in his attacks on Hillary is not advancing his cause he is merely weakening it by exposing himself as an opportunist and weakening the philosophy that he ostensibly believes in.
Mercifully, there are five more Primaries in a week in the North East of America where the demographics are similar to New York that may make the Sanders team look at their options again. Even if, against the trends, Sanders eked some wins it cannot impact the outcome as Hillary has such a commanding lead.
So what are Bernie’s other alternatives?
BERNIE’S PATH TO POSITIVITY
There is very little doubt that Sanders has made a remarkable contribution to the American political debate. He has irreversibly committed the Democratic Party to a stronger position on the equitable distribution of wealth. If he calms down after the next set of Primaries just pushing his agenda and attacking the GOP he will go to the Democratic convention with a lot of clout. He has to be able to influence the platform. He can insist, for example, that some of his key priorities become campaign issues such as the minimum wage or free public universities. There is then the possibility of starting an activist movement building on the foundations of his success. Also maybe there is a cabinet position in Hillary’s administration where he can oversee some of his priorities.
In so many ways Bernie’s whole life has been centered on issues - at least as much as anyone in politics is able to do. In this campaign he has to have to have achieved more than he could ever believed possible. He could not have imagined when he started out nearly a year ago that this would end with him in the White House. So cash in your chips Bernie and capitalize on your success.
WHAT HAS MADE SANDER’S TICK
All in all Bernie Sanders has been caught in the dilemma of his whole of his life. On the one hand he has sought not to have compromise on principle and on the other he has desired to get things done. As an independent he has been able to live with himself while making the limited compromises and trade offs he has needed to to effect change in the rarefied atmosphere of rural Vermont. His most momentous compromise to date was joining the Democratic Party to give him a shot at becoming President. In the process of this campaign he has connected and inspired on a monumental scale. However, he has a new set of rules by which he now operates and that includes not sabotaging progress and being a team player. The choice is his - call it quits while he can still persuade his following to back him thereby retaining influence. Or he can fight to the bitter end considering anything but the main prize a defeat for his objective of change. He and the values he has fought for will then be the big loser.
NON VIOLENT CHANGE IS PAINFULLY SLOW
At the age of seventy - four The Berne should have learned that change, unless it occurs by violent revolution, is a slow process. Let him read, Gandhi, Mandela and Luther King. Bernie is calling for a revolution - non violent revolutions just don’t happen.
You can declare your intentions and beliefs - “All men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights”. The 1776 Declaration of Independence then continues “… that to secure these rights Governments are instituted … deriving their powers from the consent of the governed” - but it is a long long movement to non violently effect them. Slavery was only abolished nearly a hundred years later. It took another sixty years for women to gain the suffrage and yet another forty for Civil Rights for African Americans to be enshrined. Maybe the time is nearing for a much more fairer and equitable distribution of wealth but it needs the consent of the governed. The alternative is change by force which Hobbes so eloquently explained over four hundred years ago is easily reversible by another force. It would be trite of Jay H. Ell to remind Sanders that the most outstanding examples of revolutionary change in Europe in the last century were based on Marxism/Leninism. Most of the countries effected became totalitarian and all failed.
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