I think Bernie gave as close to a concession speech as he could muster this morning. He telegraphed pretty hard. He acknowledged for the first time that the numbers are against him. He gave Biden the nod as the presumptive nominee. He gave Biden the questions that will be on the test for Sunday.
I believe he will be out by the 19th, and no later than the 20th.
Then Obama enthusiastically endorses Biden and away we go on to the general election. I think Obama can help a lot to ease the rift between progressives and moderates within the party.
I can understand disagreeing with Bernie on politics, but your personal hatred of the man is really disturbing. He marched for Civil Rights; he’s been consistently against war; he’s been consistently against bigotry (including being a very early opponent of homophobia); all for decades and decades. Why does it have to be so personal for you? Can’t he just be a relatively decent public official with profound differences with you on how best to get progressive policy accomplished?
I’ll note (once again) that young people of all races overwhelmingly support Bernie – and this, hopefully, will be the future of the Democratic party. If these folks think the Democratic party doesn’t want them to be a part of it, we put the future of the party in peril. But if the great majority of young people become long-time Democrats, we’re in phenomenal shape for the next few decades.
I want all these folks to be reliably Democratic voters, so I think it’s very important for the party (including Biden) to reach out to them.
But yeah, I know: it’s easier to weave conspiracy theories about how the Democratic “runs” the candidates; it’s never the candidates themselves who actually decide to run or the voters themselves who choose the candidates. It’s all a giant simulation and Tom Perez and Hillary Clinton are in the control room.
I want to reach out to them, but I also want them to understand how elections and democracy actually function and work, not how they wish it would work.
They may also become a bit more grounded in reality. I met so many people in the Pete campaign that were Bernie 2016 but came to realize that Sanders was a useless gasbag promising free shit.
I generally haven’t either - I didn’t even oppose his decision to stay in the race against Clinton because California and several other important states were in the back end of that race, and it was possible that Clinton might falter. I also felt then that Bernie, overcoming all the odds and having hardly any fanfare in the beginning, had earned the right to be heard.
But we’ve heard the same message over and over again. He’s had time to build a grassroots campaign in each state, which he’s done. He’s had time to build a broader coalition in people who actually believe he can be more than just a gadfly or an insurgent campaigner. He simply has not done that, and it’s because he stubbornly assumed he could win the nomination by staying in that lane. He and his supporters lost that bet.
Good intentions or not, I see a lot of risk heading into this debate, and it’s not that I necessarily fear Biden having a few senior moments. Biden is potentially damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. If he calls off the debate, he’s ducking Sanders. If he debates and slips up, he’s old and headed for a nursing home. And if he gets testy with Sanders, his supporters will say he’s a cranky old man with a mean streak.
Bernie should have accepted that his movement is over and bowed out. Instead he’s going to drag this on in hopes that he can have some excuse, maybe a close election in Ohio or Florida, or something else - something to hang his hat on to continue marching on even in the face of obvious defeat.
I have a feeling the debate will be more of a coming together between the two, than an ugly brawl. Neither of them have anything to gain by going to the mats at this point. If they do, the only winner will be Trump, Putin and some Bernie Bros.
Above is the transcript of Bernie’s statement a few hours ago. IMO that’s the perfect tone - pretty much zero negativity against Biden himself, and plenty against Trump (as well as the standard Bernie bogeymen - corporations, big money, etc.). It almost read as a concession speech. If that’s how he campaigns going forward, I think it can only make the eventual nominee stronger.
I turned off the live video halfway through when he lapsed into his stump speech. But from the transcript, I can see how it might be a sort of valedictory passing of the baton. I hope that’s really where he’s going with this.
I would frame it somewhat differently. More like, a generation of young people who would otherwise have become solid Democrats, he has poisoned against the party. Thanks, Bernie!
“The Dems” dont run anyone. The candidates choose to run themselves and *the voters *pick which one they want.
The voters have overwhelmingly picked Joe.
Look if Sanders concedes now, while he has a tiny chance of winning, he can get a lot of concessions.
If he waits until after he *can’*t win- like he did with Hillary- and after his Bernie-bros have infuriated the Biden campaign (just as they infuriated warren)- then he want get anything.
