2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)ENOUGH with the "Clinton campaign didn't ask for our help" whining! [View all]
The newest permutation of the "We told you so" diatribes seems to be the complaint that the Clinton campaign didn't reach out enough to Sanders supporters to ask for their help. Even assuming that's true - and I still haven't seen the evidence to support it - why was that kind of "outreach" necessary for progressive Democrats to get involved in the general election campaign? What stopped anyone from just rolling up their sleeves and getting to work?
I can't count how many times during various election cycles that I initially got frustrated because I didn't think a campaign had responded quickly and enthusiastically enough to my offers to help. But each time, you know what I did? I got over myself and then located and turned up at the local campaign headquarters and volunteered - and they were always happy to have me and always put me to work doing something meaningful. It was often grunt work and not always very exciting or glamorous, but it was important and helped make a difference.
People who really care about making a difference don't wait around to be asked just the right way and then refuse to do it because they weren't asked nicely enough. They just roll up their sleeves and jump in. If someone thinks they're politically savvy enough to expect a campaign to go crawling to them for their help, they're savvy enough to know that general election campaigns don't and shouldn't have to devote time and resources on kissing their butts and they're savvy enough to figure out how to help a campaign without being asked. THAT's what activism is. Anything else is self-involved prima donna crap.
So, enough with the whining already. If you didn't do everything you could to stop Donald Trump from being elected, you only have yourselves to blame.