Sanders is making his long goodbye count - By E.J. Dionne Jr.

[DonViejo]

Nick Salvatore, the biographer of Eugene V. Debs, wrote that the popularity of the great American Socialist leader in the early decades of the 20th century “rested upon his ability to articulate and symbolize something of the severe dislocation experienced by all Americans in the transformation to industrial capitalism.”

Bernie Sanders’s appeal bears a striking similarity to his political hero’s. Debs gave voice to the unease and unhappiness bred by the disruptions of the industrial period. Sanders speaks forcefully for those dismayed by the inequalities and injustices in this era of deindustrialization.

Like Debs, Sanders failed to achieve victory in a presidential contest. Nonetheless, both democratic socialists spoke for many who neither shared their ideology nor voted for them. Just as Debsian socialism had a powerful impact in preparing the way for the New Deal, so will Sanders have an influence on where American politics moves next.

The free-spirited Brooklyn native from Vermont, however, confronts very different political choices than those faced by Debs, who consciously and proudly worked outside the framework of the two-party system. By contrast, Sanders has a long and complicated relationship with the Democratic Party.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/making-sanderss-goodbye-count/2016/06/29/27af0008-3e28-11e6-a66f-aa6c1883b6b1_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

[NurseJackie]

1. I'm not sure if "making it count" is how I'd describe it.

At his current pace, people find it more irritating and an annoyance to be tolerated (and disregarded?) until it's over. Whatever hopeful message or optimistic feeling he could have left us with has been replaced with an ever increasing desire for him to hurry-up-and-get-it-over-with. Instead of focusing on what he has to say, his words are being drowned-out by the loud voice in our heads that keeps shouting "Jesus-God-a-mighty-when-will-this-end?!"

[Chathamization]

3. People who were irritated with him months ago are irritated with him now. What's nuts is that some

people act as if his job is to make the people who have been attacking him happy. Unsurprisingly, that's not his focus.

[NurseJackie]

4. Wrong. It's not about making Hillary supporters "happy". (How silly.) Instead ...

... it's about focusing our attention on defeating the GOP and Trump, not massaging his ego.

[Chathamization]

6. His strategy is working. People on both sides admit that Sanders voters are largely migrating to

Clinton. You'd think that if someone cared about electoral victory they'd focus on results of his actions rather than how it makes them feel. As you said, this shouldn't be about massaging egos.

[geek tragedy]

8. He gets exactly zero credit for that. They're migrating to Clinton because she's a better option

than Trump.

He's doing exactly nothing to help that process along.

[Chathamization]

9. Funny, people were saying it would be his fault if they didn't do that. I suppose he only gets

credit if he tries his strategy and something bad happens. If he tries his strategy and something good happens, no credit. Heads I win, tails you lose.

[geek tragedy]

11. he's not actively interfering with them moving over to her to oppose Trump.

so his contribution is doing nothing.

Should he get a medal for not trying to help Trump win?

[Chathamization]

12. Sanders _might_ have a better idea about how to convince Sanders supporters than the people who have

been disparaging and misrepresenting Sanders supporters do. Just a thought.

And Sanders has made the point that Clinton is much better than Trump and that this is an ongoing political struggle that people are making progress on. That message might not resonate with _you_, but if you weren't a Sanders supporter (and if you have some self awareness), I'm not sure why you'd expect it to.

[geek tragedy]

13. Sanders hasn't said Clinton is much better than Trump in several weeks, if not months

He has made a big show of talking about how committed he is to defeating Donald Trump, while refusing to actually do anything that demonstrates such commitment.


Compare his weak efforts to help defeat Trump to those of Elizabeth Warren.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

22. He just said last week that he will be voting for Clinton... and that Trump is worse...

Clearly Sanders strategy of focusing on making sure the Democratic Party is as progressive as possible is working to draw in Sanders supporters and make them find voting for Clinton more palatable. Him endorsing Clinton right now would look disingenuous to those of us who supported him, I do expect him to do so at the Convention or maybe shortly before after he has worked to get his reforms into the platform and other activities he has planned.

[Chathamization]

28. Again, you're not the target audience. Sanders has said he would vote for Clinton, that his focus is

on defeating Trump, and has framed the current progressive movement as being one inside the Democratic party. Sanders supporters have said that they feel his arguments are compelling, and while he's making them Sanders supporters are migrating to support Clinton. So the target audience is receptive to the message, and the intended results are happening.

That should be what matters. But what I keep hearing is it doesn't matter if Sanders message resonates with his supporters, and it doesn't matter if we're seeing the desired results (Sanders supporters now supporting Clinton) - what matters to some is that Sanders speaks to Sanders supporters in a way that pleases people who don't like Sanders or his supporters. As a poster above said, the focus should be on electoral victory, not massaging egos.

[geek tragedy]

30. again, Sanders supporters aren't migrating because of anything Sanders is saying.

Those that are migrating are ahead of him in that regard. The ones who are migrating are doing so because, hello, Clinton vs Trump isn't a close call for rational people.

And he's not framing the movement as being one inside the party--he's castigating the party for what he claims is a policy of excluding independent voters (which is complete horse puckey--anyone who wants to register as a Democrat is free to do so).


And where this is going is him ratcheting up confrontations with the party's nominee--first on the platform drafting committee, then we get it July 8/9, then a convention floor fight.

And what happens when his die-hard supporters see that his shibboleths (single payer, carbon tax, free college) that he says are of such paramount importance get rejected from the platform in a very public manner on the convention floor? When he gets denied a speaking slot because he refuses to concede? When he turns the convention into a food fight?

Does that help defeat Donald Trump?

Sanders has his agenda. Helping elect Hillary Clinton in November is not on that agenda.

[Chathamization]

32. You're assuming that you know Sanders supporters better than they know themselves

People who are Sanders supporters are saying that his words are helping with the transition to Clinton, and the data is showing that the transition is happening. People who are not Sanders supporters are saying that Sanders supporters are wrong about what Sanders supporters think, and that non-Sanders supporters understand what Sanders supporters think better than Sanders supporters do. Then they say that the fact that the desired results are happening while Sanders is implementing his strategy is purely incidental (after claiming that if it didn't happen, it wouldn't have been incidental and it would have been Sanders' fault).

Perhaps you're correct. But if a Sanders supporter who had maligned Clinton and her supporters claimed they knew the best way for Clinton to speak to Clinton supporters, dismissed opposing views from actual Clinton supporters, and dismissed the fact that the the desired results were occurring as being purely incidental, you would probably find them delusional. And I would probably agree with you.

[aikoaiko]

35. I think you're underestimating the importance of Bernie working on the platform and how that helps

his supporters support the Democratic party if not HRC herself.

I know I find it appealing.

[Eric J in MN]

10. Bernie Sanders is keeping young people involved with his long goodbye

...which includes shifting the focus to Congressional races, such as Zephyr Teachout's victory on Tuesday in the NY primary.

Suppose Sanders had said on the night of the DC primary, which was the final one, "I concede defeat. I endorse Clinton."

As a middle-aged Democrat, I would have shrugged.

But some 18 year old liberal Independents who supported Sanders would have thought, "What a sellout. Politics sucks. I'm never voting, again."

[NurseJackie]

15. Because fomenting discontent is such a winning strategy, eh?

I question the wisdom of trashing the party and our nominee in order to accommodate the naivete and assuage the feelings of the lowest common denominator.

Don't congratulate your opponent, and don't admit defeat. No winners, no losers. It's the "here's-your-participation-trophy" mentality. Bernie's doing nobody any favors.

I get what you're saying, I just disagree with it.

[Eric J in MN]

21. People who voted for Sanders were already discontented.

Sanders is showing them that there is a US Senator who will keep fighting, with a Plan B (asking his supporters to vote for progressive candidates) and a Plan C (asking his supporters to run for office) after his Plan A of becoming president didn't succeed.

[NurseJackie]

27. Our first priority is helping Hillary to defeat the GOP and Trump.

He's largely absent.

[Eric J in MN]

31. Bernie Sanders' stump speech criticized Trump for bigotry.

Sanders gave his stump speech to thousands of people per day, day after day, for months.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

24. Bah humbug, this isn't a sports game FFS!!!!

This is about creating a government that works for everybody... He met with Clinton on the night of the DC primary and afterwards he mentioned he congratulated her on her wins in that meeting...

"It's the "here's-your-participation-trophy" mentality": oh look, more anti-millennial condescension from older people. And that is supposed to get millennials to get excited for Clinton? Let alone vote for her?

[NurseJackie]

26. Oh look, more hypersensitivity.

Good grief: "Anti-millennial"?? Seriously?

If that's how some of them feel about (or how they react to) criticism... it suggests to me that some of them need to be treated delicately before they'll "get excited for Clinton"... and it helps to illustrate the point I was trying to make.

Perhaps when those particular individuals become "older people," then they'll be able to make their voting decisions based on choosing which candidate is best for the country, instead of "protest-voting", or "protest not-voting", or basing their voting decisions on whether or not they felt condescended to on an internet discussion web site.

he mentioned he congratulated her on her wins in that meeting

That's nice. He congratulated her on her previous "wins" (as you say) but no public congratulations on her being the presumptive nominee, nor on the historic significance of her accomplishment.

Yep, he's overplayed his hand.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

29. Wrong...

He has gained +12 net favorability in the newest YouGov poll... http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/polls/yougov-economist-24795 (Hillary only gained +1) (Trump lost 7 favorability)

Regardless of your hatred of the man, average Americans are happy with what he is doing now. And I'm not even going to humor you a response to your continued ageist drivel.

[Orsino]

5. We gave him political capital, and he is spending it on our behalf.

His ROI beats any other candidate's.

[uponit7771]

17. What political capital does Sanders have now? Sanders supporter flocking to Clinton in faster

... numbers than Obama in 08 and Warren is on board.

Thx in advance

[SheenaR]

18. I don't see your point at all

despite continually posting this.

McCain was a credible candidate. I could imagine some Dems needing some time especially after a very aggressive campaign.

How long do you think people needed to make the switch to Trump, a bozo? Hence, the stats.

They are "flocking" because there is hope that the Secretary will understand what voters under 45 would like this country to look like for our future.

[uponit7771]

19. Point being Sanders statistically has no holdout voters and his progressive bonafides is replaced by

... Warren the person people were cramming about before Sanders.

What TANGIBLE leverage does he have?

A speech?

thx in advance

[SheenaR]

25. Warren is having her moment

and she is doing well. Bernie has over 12 million people (more if you count indys who could not vote) who are prepared to make change locally and statewide. Many of which wait on his word for direction. He has plenty of leverage right now. Tangible human leverage. Most would follow him in or out of the Party (which I am not advocating)

[uponit7771]

33. No he doesn't.... There are only 8% hold outs left 1/4 the number Obama had

Holding out on him... and Obama won in 08.

She doesn't need sanders bonafides either... She has Warren ...

There are no delagates that are going to move for him

What leverage does he have?

[SheenaR]

34. You and I are talking about different things

8% have yet to make up their mind. All Sanders would have to do is say he was running 3rd Party (NOT advocating) and you would see the leverage he has. His word is his leverage. Why else is there even a debate on what the platform would look like? Because the guy has some pull. I do not recall Clinton being invited to have near equal representation in 2008 or anyone ever for that matter.

Also, Sanders and Warren bonafides are NOT the same people universally speaking.

[uponit7771]

36. To late for him to claim 3rd party for national elections, no... he has no leverage but he did weeks

... ago.

There's a debate on the platform because he's being petulant IMHO, someone with no position to demand anything but still demanding.

Democrats are already to accomadating IMHO

Clinton lost with more grace

You're right about Sanders and Warren, Warren has more credibility with a wider swath of the dem base

[SheenaR]

39. Agree to disagree

And not too late to accept a nomination from an established Party (not advocating) such as the Greens whose convention is in August from what I understand.

I'l vote for the nominee. We just disagree on pretty much everything else. And that's fine.

Enjoy the day uponit

[seaglass]

7. Looking forward to the goodbye part. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

14. I see the hardline Bernie Bashers are still bashing Bernie instead of discussing what Dionne has to

say. They use the same Bashes they have been using for a year. I wonder if they know how that comes off?

[uponit7771]

16. Sanders supporters flocking to Hillary faster than Hillary supporters flocked to Obama, Warren is on

... board... what practical leverage does he have now?

[LongtimeAZDem]

20. I have to disagree; he's pretty much lost all relevance at this point

The only political capital he has left is his endorsement, and that has largely become moot.

If he endorses before she is officially declared the nominee, it will look like a disingenuous and futile attempt for media attention; if he endorses afterwards, who cares?

[DemonGoddess]

38. At this point, I don't think he has ANY

political capital left.

[SaschaHM]

37. "long goodbye"

Promise?