To begin with, let me say that if you are opposed to the agenda that Sen.Sanders has laid out, if you disagree with the issues that he has raised, in short if you are opposed to the progressive platform that he has articulated, you need read no further. You obviously will not be voting for Sanders regardless of anything I may have to say.
That is your right in a free democratic system. You are entitled to exercise it, regardless of the fact that we are on opposing sides of the issues. Salaam, shalom and peace be with you.
If, on the other hand, you are one of the many who actually agree with and support the platform that Sanders has put forward but think that the realistic and practical course is to vote for HRC in the primary, I have some thoughts that you might consider.
First, there is this NBC poll that indicates that a majority of Democrats support Sanders remaining in the running until the Convention. That is remarkable enough but what is even more worthy of note is that evidently one quarter of HRC supporters agree.
This despite the continuing drumbeat of claims that Sanders is weakening or otherwise injuring our chances of victory in November by continuing his campaign. Apparently most Democrats including a significant number of HRC supporters disagree.
This isn’t really too hard to understand. For all of her merits and accomplishments as a politician, no one, outside the GOP/Far Right, has ever argued that HRC was a Progressive/Leftist firebrand. Least of all the candidate herself.
It’s worthwhile to remember that at the beginning of the primary contest HRC explicitly repudiated any such role for herself. She took the position that Sanders’ agenda was unrealistic and unworkable. That it was the product of the impracticable idealism of the Left and that she, in contrast, was a moderate, pragmatic realist who “knew how to get things done”.
A funny thing happened on the way to the nomination though. It turned out that one thing she could not “get done” was to put the Sanders challenge away. Despite all her resources, Sanders continued to dog her.
So in line with her realism and pragmatism, HRC did a make over, morphing from the “No can do.” candidate into the “I’ll fight for you candidate!”, tacking progressively leftward from her initial positioning.
This tactical shift has served her well enough but as the results from the Missouri and West Virginia show, still not well enough to finally shake Sanders. So now we have the cry that Sanders is keeping HRC from pivoting to the general election by continuing to push a Progressive/Left agenda via his candidacy.
It’s not difficult to see what such a pivot would amount to in this context. It means pivoting away from the Progressive agenda and issues that Sander’s has brought to the fore and back to the hidebound and hoary tactic of tacking to the “center”.
It would seem that a majority of Democrats, including many of HRC’s own supporters, understand this all too well. Hence the desire to see Sanders continue on to the Convention.
Putting aside other considerations, the main problem with pivoting to the “center” in this political season is that it can no longer be said with any certainty where the “center” lies. The populism that has roiled the political waters from Left to Right has repeatedly upset conventional assumptions and prognostications. It has washed away the usual landmarks by which the chattering classes have traditionally judged the political terrain.
I’ve written about this in greater detail elsewhere if anyone cares to inquire. Here I will stick to the essentials.
In Donald Trump we will be facing a candidate who has won the GOP nomination on a populist mobilization of disaffection and anti-establishment sentiment. He will have done so in the teeth of opposition from the GOP’s establishment and the entrenched interests that it represents. Having done so, he will owe them nothing and will be completely unconstrained by any consideration of them. He can and will campaign either from the Left or Right on any given issue, dependent solely on how it may appeal to the General Electorate. It won’t be possible to hold him accountable for any of the GOP’s past transgressions or lunacies, since he had no share in them and will be free to repudiate any or all of them if that seems politically expedient.
He will be running as the candidate of change and appealing to wide spread disgust with the status quo that has made itself felt across party lines.
One can hardly think of any worse strategy to deploy against such a candidate than the one that seems to be preferred by HRC and her campaign. The one epitomized by the slogan “Hold the Line”, which is literally an exhortation to stand pat. It’s the rhetorical equivalent of a defensive crouch without any affirmative message. In the current environment, it amounts to declaring our candidate and our party to be defenders of the status quo.
Going into November as the anti change party could be fatal.
So what to do?
My answer is that who our eventual candidate is will be less important than what our candidate and our party are seen as being for. If we are seen as being for nothing more than standing still, I wouldn’t give much for our chances.
If, on the other hand, we can campaign energetically on a platform of advancing progressive goals and substantive political reform, I think there’s every chance we will not only retain the Presidency but take back the Senate as well.
Unfortunately, the record is clear that HRC cannot be relied on to take this path. All her political instincts seem to militate against it, unless she is convinced that it is a political necessity.
The only way that is going to happen is if we have a strong progressive platform coming out of the Convention. The only chance we have of insuring that is to send Sanders into the convention in the strongest possible position. It is also likely to be the only way we can insure party unity for the Fall campaign.
So that’s my take. If you support progressive goals. If you think we need to go against Trump from the strongest position possible, then I’d say now is the time to vote your progressive convictions. Now is the time to vote for Sanders.
It’s up to you.