For full disclosure, I’m a Bernie fan.
OK, I’m not especially interested in talking about who’s winning, who’s losing, what’s the delegate math, and that sort of thing. I get it. In football terms, the score’s 24-14, in the 4th quarter. Teams have come back from behind at the last minute and gotten the win with ten seconds left on the clock, but it’s damned hard.
So let’s just assume that Hillary gets the nomination, just for the purpose of this diary.
But she needs to recognize this fact. Hillary needs the votes of Bernie Democrats to win the general election.
Even if Bernie doesn’t get the nomination, he’s still got the support of almost half of the Democratic Party, and a lot of independents. Bernie’s supporters come in numbers that Hillary absolutely needs if she wants to win the White House in November.
Another fact: Bernie’s in it to the convention. He’s not going to do what she wants and bow out now so she can tack the Democratic party rightwards for the general. Noooo. He’s gonna be the gadfly that the Democrats desperately need, even as they try to swat him.
That gives those of us feeling the Bern power. Hillary needs us, so she’s going to have to convince us to give us her vote.
Attempts at arm-twisting — to get us progressive Bernie Democrats to bend the knee, kiss the ring, sit down and shut up are incredibly unwise.
We have power, and if Hillary wants that power to bring her to the White House, she’s gonna need to play nice with us.
So far, that is not happening. In the rec list, we have this article:
Clinton’s Next Strategy: Slash and Burn (Bern), Then Worry About Party Unity Later.
Not. A. Good. Idea.
I’ll vote for the Democrat this November. But don’t worry about me. Worry about the youth vote. Worry about the Dem-leaning independents. Worry about the voters that are sick of voting Democratic, then seeing the party sell out to the big moneyed interests. There’s a lot of “Bern or Bust” talk out there, and if Hillary reacts by wagging her finger and condescending at them, it’s just going to get them to dig in their heels.
When Clinton and her campaigners play the game of smearing Bernie as “naive”, and smearing her supporters as “racist, sexist, frat-boy BernieBro shitlords”, she’s alienating a lot of left-leaning people who won’t come back just because she makes a warm, fuzzy speech in August.
If Hillary wants their votes, she’s gonna have to earn them, and she’d better start now. She’s not doing much of a job of unifying the party. If the Republicans had their shit together, she’d really be in deep shit right now. Her only saving grace is the fact that the Republicans are also finding out the hard way that scorched earth primary strategies are gonna bite them in the ass in the general.
There’s a lot of people who will stay home if Hillary goes to the usual strategy of throwing the left wing under the bus, and running to the right in the general election, on the Republican-Lite ticket. Republican Lite does not win elections for Democrats. Having a real vision and showing the world why we are progressive does.
Hillary needs us lefties in November, so she’d better work on earning our votes and our respect.