The time has come for Bernie Sanders to take a final bow. He should graciously exit the 2016 presidential race and end his campaign — the sooner, the better.
Given his glaring defeat yesterday in Arizona (losing by 16 percentage points), following five straight losses just a week earlier when he was trounced by 14 points in Ohio and lost by a whopping 31 points in Florida, there’s no path to the Democratic nomination for Sanders. Obstacles have bricked into an impasse.
Yes, the upcoming slate of state primaries and caucuses is far more favorable to Sanders in terms of voter demographics. He’ll win a number of moral victories — maybe even pull off a surprise or two. Trouble is, there simply aren’t enough states remaining on the campaign trail like Vermont and Idaho, which were won by double-digit margins. Even New York and California are now projected as longshots for Sanders.
Although such an announcement would be unexpected, perhaps even shocking to many, such an selfless act would be widely construed by supporters and observers alike as practical, altruistic, and even courageous. Those are the unique qualities we’ve come to expect from Sanders as someone who levels with us at all times and tells the truth. We’ve consistently looked up to Sanders and admired him for his honesty. That sincerity also requires us to acknowledge an unpleasant political fact. He can’t and won’t win. Bernie’s “revolution” has certainly begun and will continue to roar ahead, but we must prepare ourselves to fight on a better day and not reduce ourselves to political martyrdom.
Prolonging his campaign and staying in the race much further will be increasingly perceived as impractical, mercenary, and ultimately self-defeating. Speaking to diminishing crowds at campaign rallies the rest of the way could even be harmful, both personally to Sanders and potentially damaging to his message and principles. With nearly all media attention turning and now focusing on what appears to be the inevitable Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump showdown so many were predicting all along, Sanders’ stubbornness could become a negative. The longer he campaigns and appears unwilling to accept fate, means that he will gradually fade and ultimately be ignored. Obscurity is a political death sentence. He risks turning into the worst caricature of what some of his critics have charged all along, morphing into the crazy man out marching up and down the sidewalk street corner, handing out flyers while wearing a sandwich board. No one wants to see that happen, not even his opponents.
Given that Sanders can’t possibly win the Democratic nomination in light of the widening disparity of party delegates currently pledged to his opponent, he must step down and do the right thing. Sure, he entered this presidential poker game playing against a stacked deck and then was dealt some really bad cards. Winning the nomination versus what amounts to party hacks and political mechanics making the rules made him a dark horse candidate from the very start. It was no accident that the early primaries were front-loaded with southern pro-Hillary Clinton states, thus creating a misleading aura of invincibility. Nothing was left to chance. The party’s secret ace in the hole up their sleeve was always playing the super-delegates wild card, prepared to push a floundering Hillary Clinton over the delegate-count finish line, if need be. Given the formidable forces he was up against, it’s remarkable that he’s come this far and made such an indelible impact on the political process. Accordingly, Sanders and the progressive agenda he champions will be far better served in the long run if he accepts these election results gracefully (as difficult as that may be in light of blatant cronyism), yet continues to speak out publicly against establishment politics and for comprehensive campaign reform. He will be perfectly positioned to assume his rightful place as a keynote speaker at this summer’s Democratic National Convention where he would be cheered as a unifier. His voice, not Hillary Clinton’s, will be the conscious of true liberals.
Although he’s 74, Sanders still has a bight political future ahead. He will continue to be a viable national figure and movement spokesman for as long as another decade, perhaps. Once he returns to his daily duties as a respected member of the U.S. Senate, he’s virtually assured of a significantly higher public profile in the months and years ahead. Sen. Sanders will enjoy unprecedented media attention and fresh new opportunities to advance liberal initiatives in a way that he’s never been noticed before. He could even morph into a septuagenarian rock star, willing and able to use his widespread popularity to move legislative issues forward which might have been unthinkable a decade earlier, particularly if Democrats regain control of the Senate next year. That could very well happen, especially if there’s a reverse coattail effect which turns out in strong opposition to Donald Trump. Yes, Sanders can and should remain as one of the most powerful political figures in the country, for years.
Should Sanders pursue this course of action and seize the torch as the nation’s most trusted and well-liked high-profile liberal, he’ll continue to influence the agenda, winning over millions of young people to the cause. This is where his legacy is most invested. Twentysomethings have not only proven themselves as his most enthusiastic supporters, but they are primed to become the next political generation destined to implement the progressive agenda of revolution Sanders has advanced and made into a viable issue — whether it’s universal health care, wealth disparity, climate change, or a host of other critical issues.
Sanders has made being a liberal acceptable once again, following decades of Democratic phonies who scattered and ran from the leftist tag like traitors, seeking shelter within inner-Beltway culture as do-nothing moderates. Boosted by grass-roots support and more small campaign contributions than any candidate in presidential history, Sanders is now the undisputed voice of the modern progressive movement — not Diane Feinstein, not Harry Reid, and certainly not Nancy Pelosi. In this current anti-establishment climate, old guard politicians are perceived as the problem, and not the solution. The Feinsteins, Reids, and Pelosis — each seems terribly dated and their political careers are soon ready to expire, hopefully. The quicker they retire, the better for the movement. More direct to the point — they’re embarrassing. His likability factor higher than any candidate in the race, Sanders has proven his political chops, strapping on the brass knuckles and taking on the bastard banks, big pharma, the lobbyists, the system, and the rest of the cretins who’s unfathomable crimes against society have generated a mass swelling of bi-partisan political backlash not seen since the trust-busting era of Teddy Roosevelt more than a century ago.
Admitting defeat is never easy. Yet, Sanders is not a defeated candidate. To the contrary, for the first time, he’s become a legitimate national political figure. Sanders can take tremendous pride, not so much in winning the election, but at least in covering the proverbial spread and shattering the subterranean expectations for his candidacy initially. No one — not the news media, not the Democrats, not Hillary Clinton, perhaps not even the most loyal Sanders devotees — took his presidential campaign seriously when he first announced that he’d run as a Democrat nearly a year ago. The prevailing viewpoint was, there was no way that democratic socialism would appeal to the mainstream electorate. Now many months later, with Sanders hammering home leftist ideology for months, the presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton has all but turned into Sanders’ progressive clone parroting the same political manifesto. We all know she’ll abandon our cause for political expediency, but getting her over to our side, albeit temporarily, stands as a testament to Sanders’ appeal and his powerful message.
So, what’s next for those of us who have supported Sanders? Call us his political disciples. Sanders has shattered a wall that many thought was thought to be impenetrable. It’s now up to us to bridge the divide and build upon the solid foundation Sanders has set forth for other dozens, if not hundreds, if not thousands of political candidates and activists at all levels, in every sector of society. From the start, Sanders warned us that he wasn’t a Leftist messiah. He couldn’t win alone. He needed us just as much as we needed him. And so, we won’t let him down. Our fight continues.
All the important issues Sanders spoke about with such passion and sincerity during the presidential campaign will continue to percolate. It’s incumbent upon us now, not to surrender, nor withdraw. Not now. Not ever. Instead, once Sanders suspends his presidential bid, as he surely will do at some point, we must prepare ourselves ready to grab the torch he lit with such a fire, and carry it forward for the next national progressive movement, when it comes. Be assured, it will come.
Bernie Sanders presidential campaign was not an end. It was a beginning.
Some revolutions take longer than others.
Note: Markos Moulitsas, writing in The Hill, pointed out Sanders has no path to the nomination [READ MORE HERE].
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