Here’s where I began. Before Bernie Sanders entered the primary I was fine with Hillary Clinton. Basically, I knew what I would be voting for (warts and all). Nothing anyone says about her is new to me. That doesn’t mean I agree with her on everything. It just means that I was open to supporting a Sanders’ nomination. I even wrote a post about it and commented on it extensively.
I’m going to be really honest here. Many of the comments from Bernie supporters on this site concerned me. I heard a lot about why social issues weren’t important and would have to wait – suddenly incrementalism was A-okay. That surprised me, and concerned me, since Dems are going to desperately (and I mean desperately) need the votes of black and brown people, women, non-Christians, the LGTB community, and other minority groups in November. Not to mention that every time I asked for reasons to support Bernie I received a host of reasons to not support Hillary. Basically, I wasn’t comfortable with the strategy of “My candidate doesn’t suck as much as your candidate” comments. And boy, there were a ton of those. To me, that shows a weakness of your candidate.
Guess you’ve already figured out who I’m going with. I’d already admitted weeks ago I was leaning towards Hillary. The time since has merely strengthened my stance. Here are my reasons:
Sanders simply isn’t bringing out the vote. His promise to expand the electorate, to revolutionize the turn-out, hasn’t happened. In truth, that’s my biggest reason. I held back on endorsing mainly to see if Bernie could deliver. He hasn’t. And there’s no denying that increasing voter turn-out is his stated path to victory. Three contests in and not enough people are feeling the Bern. That’s a big problem.
Sanders keeps stating that, in order to enact his platform, that people will have to… Write letters to Congress? Protest Congress? Put pressure on Congress? Start a revolution? Sorry, but that won’t happen. Remember “Yes We Can”? That didn’t work out so well, especially since some Obama supporters quickly turned against our new President, and adamantly refused to give him the benefit of the doubt. And what bothers me is that a lot of today’s Bernie supporters were the very first ones to bail ship on Obama. So forgive me for not putting much faith in their being the leaders of the revolution Bernie is calling for.
And before I get comments on how it is our duty to point out flaws (or betrayals) and not become cheerleaders, I will agree with that sentiment – and I 100% respect it – but I don’t really want you on my team. And since a huge part of Sanders’ campaign relies on people rising up, people are going to have to suck up some disappointment. Yep, that’s politics. So, if Sanders’ supporters aren’t willing to do that, then I’m out. And given history, they will have to accept compromise and disappointment and stay the course. A Sanders win = the long haul. Are Bernie supporters up to that? I have my doubts.
Money, big donors and SuperPacs. The idea that Sanders will eschew these funding streams keeps me up at night. Is this just a political primary tactic? I would hope so. If not, add one more strike against him. You have to compete on the playing field that exists. I worry that Bernie’s main point (and it is a main point) about money from big donors, Wall Street, and SuperPacs will give us a candidate fighting with one arm tied behind his back. That’s unacceptable to me, mainly because it completely ignores the reality of what’s headed his way. That does not mean I like big donors and SuperPacs. It simply means they exist. Ignoring them, and the very real damage they can cause, isn’t acceptable to me.
Throwing a punch isn’t in Bernie’s wheelhouse. I watched last night’s Town Hall in South Carolina and Sanders falls flat on going on attack. (And that really worries me because this election – especially if Trump’s the nominee – will be a slug-fest never seen before) Don’t get me wrong. I admire Sanders for trying to keep it clean, but I’m beginning to think his motivation for keeping it clean is because he can’t throw a successful punch. Every time he goes after Hillary it falls flat. It simply doesn’t connect, unless you’re already in Sanders’ camp. I’ll also point out that the attacks Bernie is launching against Hillary won’t be a big issue in the general. Sure, Trumps self-funding lines up with Bernie’s small donations, but the general will be an entirely different animal when it comes to money. (More on that later.)
Issues. Sanders main issue is popular and 100% true, but he seems uncomfortable speaking to issues beyond income inequality. The office of the President requires more than a focus on a single issue – no matter how important. As I watched the Town Hall last night I was amazed that Sanders wasn’t asked one question on foreign policy. Not one. I don’t blame Sanders for the missing question, but given that foreign policy is glaring problem for him I was gobsmacked that it wasn’t part of the questioning. Sanders has gotten better on not answering every question with income inequality, but it still persists. He’s really not comfortable moving beyond that issue. And it shows.
Hillary’s speeches to Wall Street. I’m fine with her saying that everyone (Rs and Ds) need to release their speeches, but I’m playing the long game. As a Democrat, I do not want to add to the Republican arsenal in the general. I still can’t forget how Romney got away with not releasing his financials. The press let that slide – of course they did. Let’s not handicap either of our candidates on an issue Republicans will not only use against them, but get a pass on not doing the same. If everyone has to release their speeches to groups, fine. If not, then count me out of a standard that won’t apply to Republicans. The press love the “release the speeches” question. I’m not willing to give them that – especially since we all pretty much know what’s in those speeches. She was nice to who she was speaking to and they wanted her to speak, not because she would say something outrageous, but because they wanted to feel important and have a photo in their office. It had more to do with celebrity than policy. Was Hillary nice to them? Of course she was. Is this really an election deciding issue? Nope. She’d be a fool to release those speeches, and I don’t want a fool as a candidate. Basically, this is primary stuff – and I don’t fault Bernie for pursuing it. In fact, if he actually delivered turn-out in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada I’d probably reconsider my support of Hillary. But he hasn’t, so, yeah, I’m playing the long game.
Vetting. This is a huge issue for me. I simply don’t understand why Bernie supporters (or Hillary – other than she will need his supporters – or Republicans!) won’t vet their candidate. Whenever a concern about Bernie comes up, here’s what I see:
1. Comments, not about Bernie, but rather comments saying Hillary is awful, shrill, Wall Street = she’s corrupt, a liar, Bill Clinton, not progressive, etc.. Those things have nothing to do with supporting Bernie Sanders. I have a big problem with people who can’t promote their candidate, and, instead, rely on telling people how awful the other candidate is. I went back and looked at DL posts from 2008. Hillary, for the most part, was a side issue (at least until the delegate count showed Obama had the win). We were all about Obama, and even dealt with the attacks coming at him – and we didn’t do that by saying Hillary is terrible (altho there was some of that). Instead, we promoted Obama and his policies. It was great reading through those old posts and comments. We really were on our game.
2. Lengthy explanations on why Bernie didn’t really mean, vote for, things he’s said or voted for. To me, if every criticism against Sanders involves ignoring his votes, or his words, and a lengthy explanation (and I mean lengthy) on how he didn’t really mean or support the action he took… that’s a huge red flag. Unless we really believe that the American public is good at nuance and listening to lengthy explanations? Sanders voted for the Crime bill. He voted against the immigration bill. I don’t have a huge issue with those votes, but if we’re going to hold Clinton accountable for things she said and voted on without allowing her lengthy explanations then I’ll hold both accountable for their votes and words. If we accept explanations, then we need to accept all of them. If you’re willing to do that for one candidate and not the other, then that’s a problem for me… and your candidate.
Minority vote: Bernie still struggles with voting blocks Dems will desperately need in November. Now, I don’t think he doesn’t care about these issues – I think he does care – it just feels like he’s late to the game on these issues – like he’s never really considered them. That said, he’s getting better, but his words on these issues seem forced – and he definitely hasn’t picked up the lingo or code words that people deeply involved with these issues use regularly. During the last Town Hall ( before the Nevada caucus) he was asked a very specific question about feminism and responded by saying that Gloria Steinem had dubbed him an honorary woman and then went back to income inequality and how women are paid less than men. Listening to his answer I found it lacking. A good start, but not good enough. He’s just not comfortable on women and minority issues. Can he correct that? We’ll see. I hope he does since there’s a great discussion to be had on feminism and other social issues.
So… I’m going with Hillary Clinton. Not because she’s the perfect candidate and doesn’t have flaws and is supposedly “electable”, but because Bernie Sanders isn’t speaking to me as a whole person, isn’t delivering his promise of voter turn-out, relies on lengthy explanations to draw distinctions between himself and Hillary, avoids the foreign policy questions of today with a history lesson of decades past, still hasn’t been vetted on things that a lot of people will have a problem with, and, for good or bad, can’t throw a punch that connects.
All that said, I do have one major concern with not choosing Sanders. Ready? Here it is, and this might negate everything I’ve written above. A significant portion of Bernie supporters will vote for Trump if Bernie doesn’t win the nomination. Pooh, pooh comment sections all you want, but there are many Bernie supporters who will go for Trump. That frightens me, so… could I still be conflicted? Who the hell knows? I will say this… I had the same fear when it came to Obama not winning the nomination. I feared that some Obama supporters would simply not vote in the general if the nominee was Hillary. This time I fear they will vote. For Trump. There’s a common thread there that terrifies me. Newly engaged voters are unpredictable.
Truth is: We have no idea how either of our candidates would fare against Trump. That terrifies me too.
I need a drink.