I haven’t seen any reason to believe that someone like Abrams as VP would lose Biden any voters. Do you think there are a significant number of Biden voters who would stay home if the VP pick was Abrams (or some other person well liked by Bernie voters)?
Not scary to me, of course. I hope I don’t have to spell that out. I’d love to vote for her as PRESIDENT.
But the neighbors I’m taking about — the ones we need to have vote for Biden — a few of them are just racist enough and/or just misogynistic enough that this would turn them away.
Of those, I’d say an even smaller group would be okay with an African American (like Booker) or a woman (like Klobuchar), but not both at the same time.
I’m guessing here, of course, but these are people I talk to almost every day.
Did some of them vote for Obama? Yes, even some of the the somewhat racist ones. The economy sucked in ‘08; they recognized that Obama wasn’t “really” a Black American; and, they didn’t associate him with a particular crop of scary young socialists led by AOC (I know Abrams has little to do with the AOC crowd — I’m just taking about the associations some of THEM will make).
Just how much of the Sanders backers need to be mollified? We’re now seeing he doesn’t have that awesome voter turnout ability that we all had to fear losing/angering. I am having a hard time imagining a Bernie win leading to Sanders offering the veep slot to Biden’s choice.
The Sanders backers howling outrage over the rigged system/oligarchy are not going to be appeased - probably were never going to vote anyways. Some nods to progressiveness are certainly appropriate. Giving Bernie any choice in the matter is kinda outrageous.
You might be right - my suggestion is based on my own reading of each candidate’s supporters, but it’s hard to have proof for something like this. We’ll see.
Let’s turn the scenario around. Suppose it’s Sanders 49-47. Does Bernie concede on important issues on the platform? Does he select Klobuchar to be his running mate and let Biden pick the Secretary of State? Is he willing to put down the shouts of “Sell Out!” from his most ardent supporters?
Kind of weird for the establishment to make accommodations to the guy who is running on the platform of destroying the establishment.
While I recognize that mending fences is usually a good idea, I’m reminded of the time when House Republican Whip Eric Cantor started making demands about the 2009 stimulus package should be entirely tax cuts and virtually no spending, and President Obama reminded him: “Elections have consequences.”
But what are you exactly warning of? That the great majority of Sanders supporters will merely vote for Biden rather than volunteer/donate? Ok. Hard to imagine anything that he could reasonably do to get you volunteering.
McCain was old. Biden is older. McCain had to fight through concerns that the direction of the government would change drastically if he couldn’t complete his term. Biden would be wide open to the same concerns.
Biden is, again, old. It would be useful if he could find a VP that can take on a similarly active role to the one he played with Obama. Delegation to a trusted subordinate can help manage the workload. That takes a trustworthy subordinate who will only advance Biden’s policy in public. (In private they can have passionate disagreements at high volume.) It is easier if that person has a similar approach to government but this plan throws that out the window. Is there a person that is both highly focused on progressive revolution now and willing to consistently champion Biden’s vision? Maybe. It seems like it would be hard to find. Without that they end up holding down the VP’s chair with their butt and attending state funerals. That doesn’t help Biden govern.
In my understanding, an irrational expectation that she should have dropped out and supported Bernie.
I agree! It is weird. I’m worried that the alternative is a lesser chance at winning in the general.
I’m worried that a significant chunk of Bernie supporters are angry enough that they might not vote for Biden, but significant and meaningful gestures (like choosing a Bernie-approved VP) might have a chance at winning some of them back.
Biden doesn’t actually need much from Sanders, other than what gets him past the convention. The jump in turn out that started in 2018 continued through these primaries, and yet during that the youth vote for the most part did not keep up with the jump in participation. Whatever else you say about Bernie Sanders, he can generate an entire stadium full of young, enthusiastic voters, but somehow that doesn’t translate to getting all the other kids.
And if they don’t, what will you do? Vote for Trump? Stay home? What?
You are basically admitting that Bernie supporters are really not committed to supporting the Democratic candidate, they are only committed to supporting THEIR candidate who happens to be running as a Democrat.
I don’t know if it’s better to bite the bullet and cut off the cancer of the left wing tea party or to appease them and encourage future hostage taking.
Every Biden supporter I know was ready to swallow hard and vote for Bernie. It sounds like the same can’t be said for the Bernie supporters. And we will have to pay Danegeld every cycle.
