For the past ten months, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has led a revolution to reform government, and eliminate the staggering disparity in wealth between the one percent and the rest of us. He was the real deal. He talked the talk and walked the walk. Bernie didn’t accept PAC money. The average donation to his campaign was $27, yet he constantly outpaced fundraising by the Clinton campaign. He proposed a “Medicare for all” system and free college tuition which would be funded by a slight tax increase, along with fees charged to Wall Street speculators. He railed against bad trade agreements which had cost us millions of jobs. Everywhere he went, he drew capacity crowds. The new mantra for millions of young and first-time voters, independents, and economically strapped Americans was, “Feel the Bern!”. But last Tuesday at a rally in Portsmouth New Hampshire, that slogan changed to “Feel the Burn”. On that day, Bernie endorsed and embraced Hillary Clinton, a career politician who lied to Congress, was careless with national secrets, and became a multi-millionaire from making speeches to the same Wall Street big shots who caused the great recession. In one brief moment, Sanders and Clinton hugged, and a promising reform movement died.
My conservative friends tell me that I was a fool to think Sanders could deny Clinton the Democratic nomination, but as I pointed out in my April column, Bernie had a clear path to the White House throughout most of his campaign.
Week after week, Sanders kept winning primaries and caucuses. Week after week he kept pace with Hillary for pledged delegates. And each week, his war chest grew considerably. All along, Clinton’s ace in the hole was the 500 super delegates who had pledged their support to her long before primary voters even went to the polls. These super delegates were comprised of Democratic elected officials and party hacks who, to some degree or another, curried favor with the Clintons. But even accounting for those super partisans, Bernie was making a case for a brokered convention so long as he passed Hillary in actual pledged delegates. That scenario remained a distinct possibility until the Sanders campaign was eventually derailed by a series of closed primaries where independents were barred from voting. Yet even as Hillary closed in on the nomination, Bernie still had a clear path to the White House. Here’s how it would have played out.
Bernie would show up at the convention with 13 million votes and roughly 47% of the pledged delegates. As soon as Hillary was nominated, he would bolt the party and launch an independent run for the presidency, either on his own, or as the Green Party nominee. His doing so could deprive Hillary and Trump of the requisite 270 electoral votes needed to win the general election. Should that happen, the contest would have been turned over to the House of Representatives. According to the 12th Amendment, the Speaker would then direct all 50 states to cast one vote each for the candidate who received the most popular votes in their state. The House would tally the 50 votes, and whichever candidate collected at least 26 votes would be the new president. This might seem like a convoluted scenario, but it is plausible, and still could have occurred had Bernie accepted Dr. Jill Stein’s offer last week to assume her mantle as Green Party nominee. He refused, and by endorsing Hillary, Bernie turned his back on the movement he once ignited.
Some pundits have said that Sanders forced Ms. Clinton to the left, and forced the DNC to adopt several of his proposals into their party platform. But as Dr. Stein tweeted to Sanders following his endorsement, “I wish Hillary believed what you believe, but it just doesn’t pass the laugh test”. Translation? If elected, Hillary will not push for Bernie’s reforms. One former Bernie supporter blogged, “For the past ten months Bernie said Hillary was in bed with Wall Street, has questionable judgment, and was not qualified to be president…suddenly he asked his supporters to forget all that, and endorse Mrs. Clinton.” After ten months of hard work, an entire movement had ended with a hug between two rivals with very disparate beliefs.
That hug also gave hope to greedy Wall Street bankers and health insurance companies. It meant that the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in America would continue to be from unpaid medical bills, and it meant that millions of people would keep on struggling to pay their monthly health insurance premiums. It also meant that college students would continue to be saddled with debt. The hug meant that our tax dollars would continue to be spent on sending our soldiers into harm’s way every time warring factions couldn’t solve their own problems. And the hug meant that we would continue to honor trade agreements which have thrown millions of Americans out of work, with more of the same to come (can you say TPP?).
In all fairness to Bernie, some observers at last week’s endorsement rally say that the now infamous hug was actually initiated by Hillary, and that Sanders had only wanted to shake hands. Nevertheless, Sanders embraced the embrace. It was a seminal moment in American politics. Mainly, it was a moment in which Hillary felt the Bern, and the rest of us felt the effect.
Bernie’s Hypocritical Hug
For the past ten months, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has led a revolution to reform government, and eliminate the staggering disparity in wealth between the one percent and the rest of us. He was the real deal. He talked the talk and walked the walk. Bernie didn’t accept PAC money. The average donation to his campaign was $27, yet he constantly outpaced fundraising by the Clinton campaign. He proposed a “Medicare for all” system and free college tuition which would be funded by a slight tax increase, along with fees charged to Wall Street speculators. He railed against bad trade agreements which had cost us millions of jobs. Everywhere he went, he drew capacity crowds. The new mantra for millions of young and first-time voters, independents, and economically strapped Americans was, “Feel the Bern!”. But last Tuesday at a rally in Portsmouth New Hampshire, that slogan changed to “Feel the Burn”. On that day, Bernie endorsed and embraced Hillary Clinton, a career politician who lied to Congress, was careless with national secrets, and became a multi-millionaire from making speeches to the same Wall Street big shots who caused the great recession. In one brief moment, Sanders and Clinton hugged, and a promising reform movement died.
My conservative friends tell me that I was a fool to think Sanders could deny Clinton the Democratic nomination, but as I pointed out in my April column, Bernie had a clear path to the White House throughout most of his campaign.
Week after week, Sanders kept winning primaries and caucuses. Week after week he kept pace with Hillary for pledged delegates. And each week, his war chest grew considerably. All along, Clinton’s ace in the hole was the 500 super delegates who had pledged their support to her long before primary voters even went to the polls. These super delegates were comprised of Democratic elected officials and party hacks who, to some degree or another, curried favor with the Clintons. But even accounting for those super partisans, Bernie was making a case for a brokered convention so long as he passed Hillary in actual pledged delegates. That scenario remained a distinct possibility until the Sanders campaign was eventually derailed by a series of closed primaries where independents were barred from voting. Yet even as Hillary closed in on the nomination, Bernie still had a clear path to the White House. Here’s how it would have played out.
Bernie would show up at the convention with 13 million votes and roughly 47% of the pledged delegates. As soon as Hillary was nominated, he would bolt the party and launch an independent run for the presidency, either on his own, or as the Green Party nominee. His doing so could deprive Hillary and Trump of the requisite 270 electoral votes needed to win the general election. Should that happen, the contest would have been turned over to the House of Representatives. According to the 12th Amendment, the Speaker would then direct all 50 states to cast one vote each for the candidate who received the most popular votes in their state. The House would tally the 50 votes, and whichever candidate collected at least 26 votes would be the new president. This might seem like a convoluted scenario, but it is plausible, and still could have occurred had Bernie accepted Dr. Jill Stein’s offer last week to assume her mantle as Green Party nominee. He refused, and by endorsing Hillary, Bernie turned his back on the movement he once ignited.
Some pundits have said that Sanders forced Ms. Clinton to the left, and forced the DNC to adopt several of his proposals into their party platform. But as Dr. Stein tweeted to Sanders following his endorsement, “I wish Hillary believed what you believe, but it just doesn’t pass the laugh test”. Translation? If elected, Hillary will not push for Bernie’s reforms. One former Bernie supporter blogged, “For the past ten months Bernie said Hillary was in bed with Wall Street, has questionable judgment, and was not qualified to be president…suddenly he asked his supporters to forget all that, and endorse Mrs. Clinton.” After ten months of hard work, an entire movement had ended with a hug between two rivals with very disparate beliefs.
That hug also gave hope to greedy Wall Street bankers and health insurance companies. It meant that the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in America would continue to be from unpaid medical bills, and it meant that millions of people would keep on struggling to pay their monthly health insurance premiums. It also meant that college students would continue to be saddled with debt. The hug meant that our tax dollars would continue to be spent on sending our soldiers into harm’s way every time warring factions couldn’t solve their own problems. And the hug meant that we would continue to honor trade agreements which have thrown millions of Americans out of work, with more of the same to come (can you say TPP?).
In all fairness to Bernie, some observers at last week’s endorsement rally say that the now infamous hug was actually initiated by Hillary, and that Sanders had only wanted to shake hands. Nevertheless, Sanders embraced the embrace. It was a seminal moment in American politics. Mainly, it was a moment in which Hillary felt the Bern, and the rest of us felt the effect.