Yes, Bernie Sanders Really Is Winding Down His ‘Revolution’

[Fla Dem]

Thursday’s video address was Sanders clearly signaling, ‘I know I’m 74, and I hope what I’ve started here survives me.’

Michael Tomasky
The Daily Beast
06.16.16 10:49 PM ET

>>>>snip<<<<

Consider the speech’s structure. It came in four parts. Part one, how amazing are the things I/we have accomplished. Part two, how important it is to defeat Donald Trump. Part three, how the Democratic Party needs to change more in his image. Part four, how the people’s revolution must continue beyond this year and manifest itself in Bern-feelers running for office and staying involved in politics far beyond this campaign.

hat is to say, only one part out of four was directly confrontational to the Democratic power structure, and even that part picked its spots quite carefully. He ticked off 15 matters on which he suggested the Democrats ought to follow him. But on 10 of them, Hillary Clinton already agrees (and indeed on a few of them, like guns and equal pay for women, she’s done more than he has and is more committed than he—I’d even add health-care-as-a-right to that list, since as first lady she helped lead the charge for health care for poor children, the S-CHIP program, which is free for poor children).

There were five that left room for platform committee fights: the $15 minimum wage (she backs that in more expensive cities but says it could be lower in less expensive areas); a fracking ban, which she does not support and which a president has no power to impose anyway; a “modern-day Glass-Steagall” to break up the banks; free college tuition; and health care as a right for all, which she would say she backs but not in the sense that he means it (everything free for everyone, financed by taxes).

>>>>snip<<<<

Then the last part of the speech, and the part that drew the most attention from Bernie people on Twitter, was the “the revolution must go on” part. This was the section that gave his people the signal that this was bigger than Bernie, and I give him credit for emphasizing it, because to me this was a campaign that had some cult-of-personality aspects to it from the start. But this was Sanders clearly signaling: “I know I’m 74, and I hope what I’ve started here survives me.”

So that’s how his people saw it. How actual Democrats saw it—and I don’t mean the banking lobbyist, I mean the state committeewoman from Illinois who is a public-interest lawyer in Evanston—I’m not sure. Less favorably, I’m sure. She no doubt hung on the key two sentences: “The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.” Those sentences, along with the election reform matter he left out, signaled a de facto endorsement of Clinton, whether his people want to admit that or not.

But I’m pretty sure my Evanston lawyer also heard the grandiosity that Sanders, a candidate who certainly did much better than expected but in the end lost by quite a large margin, assigned to himself. To her and to thousands like her—precisely the people forgotten in the Clinton-Sanders debate all these months, because they are representative of the “little people” who are for Clinton, which seems to most of the media oxymoronic, but they are real, and they number in the many millions—Bernie is now old news. And he’s just going to get older every week.

Yes it's time for Bernie to throw in the towel. he's becoming a shadow of his former self the longer he continues his quixotic campaign. Unfortunately as Tomasky points out, his followers probably didn't get the message from this on line speech.

[stopbush]

1. I seriously doubt that Sanders' armchair revolution

will last the year.

This was a personality based fad. Nothing more, nothing less. Now that the idol is departing the scene, there's really nothing left for his zealots to rally around.

If they couldn't be bothered to vote - or to even register to vote - when the mania was in full swing, how are they going to keep a personality driven movement alive without the personality?

Just as Sanders overestimated his leverage post-defeat, the media and just about everyone else has overestimated what the Sanders "revolution" actually was, and what its chances were for surviving past the primaries.

I give it a 5% chance, give or take 5%.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. ^^^AMEN to this!^^^

If they couldn't be bothered to vote - or to even register to vote - when the mania was in full swing, how are they going to keep a personality driven movement alive without the personality?

[Cary]

4. It isn't so much up to Sanders as it is up to his supporters

And, hey, I could be wrong but a more inept, ham fisted and affected lot I could not imagine. I don't think there will be any revolution. They simply don't have what it takes.

[Rose Siding]

3. This actual Democrat recognized the insulting grandiosity

Especially his follow-up tweet about how he hopes history recognizes that all the good stuff to come started with his campaign 'revolution'.

I get everyone needs to acknowledge that yes, Sanders ran, and his novelty reached some kids and some usually at odds with Dems.

But as usual he goes farther than reality will support. Just never mind, I guess, Birmingham or the Stonewall or Blair Mountain? Stanton, Anthony, Sojourner, MLK and Chavez, stand aside, Bernie happened?

Madness.

[Walk away]

8. Maybe we can get that guy who sculps heads out of cheese to do one of Bernie!!!

That would be historical!!!

[Her Sister]

5. But on 10 of them (15), HRC already agrees & indeed on a few of them she's done more than he has...

That is to say, only one part out of four was directly confrontational to the Democratic power structure, and even that part picked its spots quite carefully.

He ticked off 15 matters on which he suggested the Democrats ought to follow him.


But on 10 of them, Hillary Clinton already agrees (and indeed on a few of them, like guns and equal pay for women, she’s done more than he has and is more committed than he—I’d even add health-care-as-a-right to that list, since as first lady she helped lead the charge for health care for poor children, the S-CHIP program, which is free for poor children).

AGAIN:

But on 10 of them, Hillary Clinton already agrees (and indeed on a few of them, like guns and equal pay for women, she’s done more than he has and is more committed than he.

But on 10 of them, Hillary Clinton already agrees (and indeed on a few of them, like guns and equal pay for women, she’s done more than he has and is more committed than he.

But on 10 of them, Hillary Clinton already agrees (and indeed on a few of them, like guns and equal pay for women, she’s done more than he has and is more committed than he.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/16/bernie-sanders-winds-down-his-revolution.html

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[NastyRiffraff]

6. A "de facto endorsement"?

“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.” Those sentences, along with the election reform matter he left out, signaled a de facto endorsement of Clinton, whether his people want to admit that or not.

Not good enough. He needs to publicly and explicitly endorse the Democratic nominee, or he's not making "certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly." I don't hope for the graceful and complete endorsement Hillary Clinton gave to Obama in 2008; I don't think Sanders has that in him. But until he does endorse, however reluctantly, I don't believe him about working to defeat Trump.

[Walk away]

7. The longer he stays in, the less power he has. Stay in Bernie!

I honestly believe that Bernie is a dangerous enemy of our party. He has spent months accusing 99.99% of our leaders of rigging elections, cheating and lying. So far, everything he has done has proved him to be untrustworthy. I would feel better if the Dems let his campaign flounder and die.

[Thinkingabout]

9. Whether he ends his campaign publicly or never is not going to change the primary results.

It is time to work towards the GE.