There was a mixed reaction on Village 14 to the idea of discussing national politics here, so I’m invoking executive privilege with this post.
The active V14 community includes some avid supporters of both Bernie and Hillary. IMHO, Bernie — who is meeting with President Obama as I write this — has a huge opportunity right now. Will he concede or will he wait until next week’s primary in DC? How much bargaining power does he have? Will he endorse Hillary?
I can’t see why this couldn’t be an interesting and civil discussion. But I’ve been wrong before.
I love him. I voted for him. But it’s time for Bernie to bow out. California was his last shot. And even though Trump is the King of self-inflicted wounds, I want to see Hillary free to focus on landing a knock out punch.
Regardless of your feelings on domestic issues, it should scare the heck out of you that Donald Trump and his fragile ego might have his finger on the big red button.
It will be very interesting to see what happens with Bernie. Hillary won going away, with millions more votes, but Bernie will finish with a huge amount of pledged delegates for a second-place finisher. It seems highly unlikely Hillary would tap him for VP considering his anti-establishment position, the intensity of the primary campaign and, frankly, his age. But in my view, a Clinton-Sanders ticket might be unbeatable. Without him she still probably wins, but I’m not certain.
I like the idea of a Clinton/Sanders ticket but I’d be very surprised if it happens.
Clinton is no more likely to pick Bernie Sanders as she is Harry Sanders. She shouldn’t pick Elizabeth Warren either. We need her in the Senate and it does not provide any electoral advantage.
Hillary/Harry 2016. I’m in.
Hillary will pick Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia for VP. He is a strong moderate, Harvard Law grad and former Governor. He also puts a swing state in her column.
Doug:
Not after his fundraising red flag. No way.
Of course I’ll back Hillary, but I have never been as deeply involved in a political campaign as I have been in Bernie’s effort. I think I donated more to his campaign than to every other campaign combined and I’m not alone in doing so.
I was one of those pushing Bernie to get in a year or more before he announced in May of last year because I was deeply dissatisfied with what every other candidate in either party was saying or where they wanted to take this country in the year ahead. I knew his record, character, consistency and blunt honesty. I’ve never been prouder to be part of any political effort and it bothered me not one bit when critics chided him about how little of his legislation ever made it through Congress. Then I recalled that Senator Dick Durbin once bluntly stated in reference to the Senate that the banks, pharmaceutical and insurance interests “run this place”. Durbin later retracted his statement, but every one knew he was telling the truth.
The day after Bernie announced, he held a news conference where he outlined the issues he would take to the voters. What impressed me most was how emphatically he stated that his one overriding objective was to make certain he said or did nothing during the campaign that would be embarrassing to his supporters. God, I wish I could say that about every other candidate I’ve backed in the past.
Bernie’s campaign was an insurgent pickup game from the start. I never thought he’d get much past New Hampshire, maybe to Massachusetts, but no further. Instead, he won 24 states and received almost 45 percent of the popular vote.
That’s 10 or 15 percent more than any past insurgency of this nature, particularly with all the political institutions, media and corporate forces arrayed against him. He was tireless.
Sanders has said all along that he would endorse and work for whoever the nominee is. The scuttlebutt that he’d go third party or sulk in a corner was all poppycock and a lot of those saying this knew it to be poppycock. But let him do this in his own way and at his own tempo. He didn’t get as far as he has by being dumb. This guy is smart and he is tough. He’s not going to do anything to give Trump or the Republicans any advantage in this race.