Today is 'Super Tuesday' with Democratic Party primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.
Sen. Bernie Sanders appears to be headed for a defeat in most of these primaries - the exception being his home state of Vermont and maybe a close race in Massachusetts and one other if his younger base turns out in big numbers. [He won in Vermont, Oklahoma, Colorado and Minnesota.] In the last couple of events in South Carolina and Nevada his touted young folks didn't turn out the way his campaign had hoped.
It is true though that the Sanders campaign raised more than $42 million during February. So the zillions of small donations keep pouring in. But my question is now - what is the Sanders strategy? When you add up expected Clinton victories on Super Tuesday and her massive lead in 'Super Delegates' to the convention (who are mostly Democratic Party big wigs who support Clinton) it will be virtually impossible for Sanders to win.
Is Sanders just trying to rack up as many delegates as possible so that he can have influence in writing the party platform - which of course no one will ever read and Hillary Clinton will just ignore? Is Sanders hoping that he will be invited to speak at the convention?
It is true that Democratic Party voters by a large margin think that Bernie is more honest than Hillary. So people in his party appear to like him - for some odd reason though they still think Hillary is the better candidate. Is it because she has 'more experience' helping to create wars and giving Wall Street all the bail-outs they demand?
The only bit of strategy that I can come up with that might motivate Sanders to stay in the race is the FBI investigation into the former Secretary of State’s email usage, particularly whether she sent classified information in them. Maybe Sanders thinks she will be charged with a crime and then the party will turn to him at the last minute. I can't imagine any of this actually happening but I am lost trying to figure out what else might be moving Sanders to be staying in the race.
He'd need a massive voter surge in his direction today and beyond in order to overturn the enormous Clinton advantage of institutional support from the 'Super Delegates' and the love she continues to get from the mainstream media.
The Bernie revolution appears to have run into the predictable wall of corporate domination of the Democratic Party. He has been late to make an issue of the Clinton dynasty's attack on social progress. He has yet to really take on the Clinton support for endless war. The fact that neo-con dirt bag Robert Kagan (Project for a New American Century) endorsed Clinton should have been a moment for Sanders to raise holy hell but I've not heard a word from him about that. He's saying virtually nothing about foreign policy - one of the many areas where he could show that Hillary is in fact a right-winger!
So what is the Sanders strategy? If anyone out there has a clue please let me know.......
One thing we do know for sure - Sanders has long ago pledged to support Hillary in the general election. Why did he run for president in the first place? That is the big question.....
1 comment:
It doesn't seem logical to me for Bernie to hang around hoping Hillary gets indicted. As much as she deserves to be hauled away in cuffs, the Obama DoJ hasn't got much of a track record of going after influential bigshots.
My cynical side says that Bernie will stay in as long as he can because his role is to bring progressives into the Clinton fold. If he drops out right away and endorses her, that might not be as effective in keeping progressive votes, and more importantly progressive energy in the Democratic Party.
As for the other side, if Trump gets the nomination (as seems likely), then the neocons and the "moderates" can easily support Clinton. Then we can quit worrying about blue vs red because it will be the one great corporate party vs. the Tea Party and the Progressives. All the drama of an Egyptian election.
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