What's the real reason Bernie requested a meeting with Pres. Obama and Sen. Reid?

[Alfresco]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-to-meet-with-obama-thursday/

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bernie-sanders-campaign-last-days-224041

Convinced as Sanders is that he’s realizing his lifelong dream of being the catalyst for remaking American politics—aides say he takes credit for a Harvard Kennedy School study in April showing young people getting more liberal, and he takes personal offense every time Clinton just dismisses the possibility of picking him as her running mate—his guiding principle under attack has basically boiled down to a feeling that multiple aides sum up as: “Screw me? No, screw you.”

But more than any of them, Sanders is himself filled with resentment, on edge, feeling like he gets no respect -- all while holding on in his head to the enticing but remote chance that Clinton may be indicted before the convention.

Pure speculation on my part but after reading the Politico article it wouldn't surprise me if Bernie thinks he can coerce his way into the VP slot?

[BobbyDrake]

1. I respect President Obama and Senator Reid, but they don't get to pick HRC's VP.

And shame on Bernie if he thinks he can do an end-run and make anyone try to force HRC to put him on the ticket.

[Cha]

2. BS called for the meeting? I didn't know that part.. thanks.

Well even I know he's not going to be VP.. he's burned most of his bridges and that was a big one.

[BlueMTexpat]

4. He also missed an epic moment.

Hillary Clinton Made History, but Bernie Sanders Stubbornly Ignored It http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?_r=0

His political tone-deafness remains consistent.

And per the article, political unity seems to be the farthest thing from his mind.

[Cha]

7. He's bitterly jealous and acting poorly on a national state. He can't help himself. He would

have made a very bad president.

I never thought he'd go for unity.. We'll do it without him.

[pandr32]

23. You've got that right!

The traits he is exhibiting reveal a narcissistic man and a control freak--a combo that would make him a very dangerous president, and an impossible VP---more suited to be a dictator.

Aloha Cha! Beautiful day! (Weather and historical nomination)

[Cha]

31. And, one who doesn't see reality for what it is..

Another not so good trait in anyone much less a POTUS.

Ah yes, pandr.. A Beautiful Day , Aloha!

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. "We'll do it without him".

Yes We Will!

[Surya Gayatri]

17. Thanks for the link. Excellent analysis of last night.

Wrapped in his own self-created myth. Like the article said, when he's up in front of that crowd, he takes himself for some kind of messiah.

[unblock]

10. poppy burned bridges with reagan and reagan reluctantly tapped poppy.

but poppy was an establishment figure, someone independents would be comfortable with, so he offered something for reagan.

hillary will similarly be looking for someone independents can be comfortable with, and most likely someone who can help deliver a swing state. sanders doesn't fit either bill.

the sanders coalition will no doubt feel taken for granted, and that may hurt hillary in the popular vote, but not likely in the electoral college.

more likely would be for sanders to end up in hillary's cabinet.

[Cha]

12. NO. BS has burned his bridges with Hillary.. he offers nothing. He's said he can't make his

fans vote for Hillary.. well, I guess not.. not after he's Demonized her and the Dem Party.

Nobody's taking any votes for granted but if they want to be burnie or bust then we will do it without them.

He's not going to extort her. She won he lost.

This will be Hillary's decision whatever happens.. sanders can go back to Vermont.

[unblock]

16. i agree it seems a rather unlikely choice for veep.

i'm just saying that "burning bridges" doesn't always prevent getting picked.

the main point is that, in pivoting to the general, presidential nominees usually don't pick a veep who can help deliver the base and a state like vermont.

[BlueMTexpat]

21. IMO, he deserves no post

whatsoever in her Cabinet. Cabinet members must be loyal to the President. Bernie's speech last night and his actions in recent months show that his loyalty is to himself only.

If Bernie could not even bring himself to mention Hillary's name in the first moments of his speech last night - when it was truly an historic moment - and still never even acknowledged what an historic event it was because he sees events through his own prism only, then he simply does not have either the gravitas or the broad competence to be a Cabinet Secretary. That he also allowed his supporters to boo at mention of her name without comment does not bode well for ANY partnership whatsoever with Clinton.

I saw one poster in another thread mention Bernie for Sec'y of the Treasury, apparently because of his abilities in fiscal policy. My reaction although I didn't post it: Those must be hidden abilities.

It would an interesting post indeed for an individual whose campaign has consistently been subject to FEC violations and still is, whose campaign has spent tons more money than Hillary's to accomplish much less, who cannot be troubled to make his tax returns public as he has repeatedly stated he would, and who apparently helped ease at his wife's behest the USD 10 million loan to Burlington College that ultimately left that institution bankrupt. And that's just for starters ....

Sorry if I sound bitter when I should not at this moment. But I am somewhat, especially with Bernie's tone and actions since the first shenanigans in NV that attempted to overturn the Feb caucus results. Bernie has chosen to make his own bed and must lie in it. He will have to make his own very sincere overtures to Hillary to be considered for anything beyond his position in the Senate. It is not for Hillary to ease his Senate re-entry among Dems, appoint him to a Cabinet position or do anything else positive for him - as women have all too often done for men for centuries.

Hillary has more class and patience than I, however, so she will likely do at least one of those things. But I sincerely doubt that it will entail a Cabinet appointment for Bernie. As retired senior management myself, based on his own words and actions, I would not assess him as a good manager at all.

[unblock]

22. by that logic, one could argue that hillary didn't deserve to be obama's secretary of state

she did make a clear shift to support him at this stage eight years ago, but prior to that she was, well, running a campaign to beat obama, and that included some things that obama and his supporters didn't care for at all. she burned bridges before she mended fences, to mix metaphors a bit....

it's always hard to tell, but politicians are wheelers and dealers, and i always suspected, even at the time, that hillary switched to support mode only when she was promised a cabinet post.

perhaps sanders will switch to support mode himself because it's the right thing to do; perhaps he is staying curmudgeonly as a bargaining chip until he is promised something like a cabinet post. perhaps obama is playing the negotiator to resolve the conflict between the two. time will tell.

as for which post if he's in Hillary's cabinet? my first thought was secretary of labor, not treasury.
wall street would pop an aneurism over sanders heading treasury.

[jmowreader]

25. I seriously doubt there's any place for Sanders in Hillary's administration

Bernie's a "my way or the highway" person. If he can't get everything he wants, he'll try to stop all progress.

And where would she put him?

[wysi]

29. Poppy also ran the CIA

And lord only knows what he knew about Reagan.

[teamster633]

11. I heard the same on NPR.

The initial mention of the meeting gave me hope that Obama had set this up. The fact that Bernie requested the meeting raises big questions about his intent.

[Cha]

14. Well as usual my money is on President Obama over burnie sanders. The President

has Hillary's back.

This reminds me of BS' trip to Rome in search of the Pope.

We Won California! Mahalo, teamster~

[Rose Siding]

3. I think he fancies himself a wheeler dealer negotiator por la Revolucion

It's a good time to realize, yet again, that Obama's Got This

[Cha]

9. Right.. BS isn't going to wheel and deal anything with President Obama.. he has

Hillary's back.

[beachbum bob]

5. multiple reasons, obviously its a form of blackmail where sanders is gonning to say

you give me x, y and x or I will do everything I can to sink the democratic party between now and general election....most people think sanders is type of great guy and in fact he is as devious and underhanded as they come.. He is a small man who couldn't handle the big time and now is grasping to whatever he has left.....what could sanders be asking

1, to have immunity for FEC violations, fines and DOJ criminal prosecutions?
2. have his wife jane covered with immunity for any charges from burlington college fiasco?
3. demand DNC picks up all his debt
4. demand to be VP or chose the VP
5. god who knows what else

what ever he asks for will be to stroke his ego....when has a losing candidate demanded a face to face with the president....?

[Walk away]

8. Ha! see below. We are pretty close and we posted at the same time! It must be true.

[Thinkingabout]

15. Maintaining his committee positions with Reed in the meeting.

Hopefully some reasonably into what his next move should be. Two negotiators who knows the ropes.

[LiberalFighter]

19. He risked losing those.

If he wants to be head of a committee he won't be deciding which committee. And it will be dependent on whether and how he helps.

[LiberalFighter]

18. Responses

1) Off the table
2) Off the table
3) Off the table with DNC -- Will lend name to fundraisers
4) Off the table
5) Go back to Vermont and when god tells you something reasonable let us know.

[Walk away]

6. He is probably trying to cut a deal to settle his campaign debt plus the money he stole...

from his campaign to take his entire family to crash the Vatican. Then he will demand to be made President with Tulsi Gabbard as his V.P. and Cornell West as Secretary of State.

[beachbum bob]

13. problem with zealots, they don't believe that people see thru them, to their core

sanders has been a zealot his adult life fighting the "establishment" and by god he aint giving up with a big payoff


his core is all about ego and the soapbox

[still_one]

20. If he thinks he can leverage into VP, that isn't going to happen. The VP needs to be someone

who is much younger, to be viewed as a possible Presidential candidate in 8 years

[Politicub]

24. It could be theater, all as a run up to a unity appearance

By Bernie and Hillary next week.

We probably won't know for a while. It's a very public meeting, though. I keep hearing about it.

[MrWendel]

26. Sounds like...

he's going to DC to read off his list of demands. I guess we'll see how far he actually gets with that.

[livetohike]

28. He's looking for someone else to whine to. Figures he

would go to the top. If they don't promise him action, then he will threaten to run third party. He is a miserable human being.

[taught_me_patience]

30. He wants to know how the master (Obama) would message to his fans

to let them down easy. He doesn't know what to do.

[Corporate666]

32. Bernie is like a school mom who isn't getting her way

and who keeps going "up the chain of command" thinking that if she just gets louder, more insistent, more brash and acts like more of a squeaky wheel, that someone will finally give her what she wants.

I am sure Bernie is going to plead his case to Hillary's "boss" because he hasn't gotten much traction with HRC on his own.

The thing is - and I say this without any particular hatred for Bernie - he just does not have nearly the capital that he thinks he does. He has already lost. He has been beaten fair and square. Hillary doesn't *need* him. I don't think BS understands that. I don't think he understands she doesn't need his voters either.

Unless Bernie is going to threaten to actively work against HRC, then I don't see what he has to offer to Obama/HRC or to the DNC. And if he sits there with Obama and tries to be a hardass and say "I need X, Y and Z in order to work to help HRC", then I think he is in for a rude awakening. Because the reality is that the race is OVER, and whether he does it now or next week or after the convention, Bernie *WILL* be going back to Vermont and he WILL be just another member of the senate, and an insignificant one at that, and he WILL be very much relying on the good will of democrats and their party to give him a voice and give him a role to play in government. As an independent from Vermont, he is a non-entity in the Senate. He's a nobody. So he best be *really* careful about how hard he plays the single pair hand he's got, and be best not be thinking he's got a flush.