LETTER TO THE EDITOR / BERNIE: THE TAIL SHOULDN’T WAG THE DOG
ROGER C. KOSTMAYER
Exit polls and surveys show that primary electorates are more extreme than is their party (and the country) as a whole. Therefor, winning a general election usually involves getting your partisans out to vote plus attracting a majority of the moderate middle.
Bernie Sanders said his support for probable Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party “is totally dependent” on their adopting his more aggressive agenda. It’s OK for Bernie to campaign (civilly) to the end of the primaries if he so chooses. But then he should be an enthusiastic supporter of Hillary and the party’s platform. When Hillary realized Barack Obama was going to win the 2008 primary, she conceded, stopped raising money, didn’t demand anything and went to work uniting the party. It’s not OK, even for someone who fought an impressive issue oriented campaign that benefited both the party and Hillary, to demand that he, Bernie, be allowed to dictate the party’s platform.
Senator Sanders should be mindful of the party’s goal: to win the general election, both the top of the ticket and in the Senate and House, so a new Democratic administration has an opportunity to work with a majority to solve the issues about which the Senator cares most. Even if candidates are in general agreement, for a primary loser to try and force the winner into his more extreme political mold isn’t a winning strategy.
Bernie should be focusing on uniting the party and motivating his donor base and young followers. If he does that gracefully, he’ll be revered by progressives, Democrats and historians. The Republican Party is providing more than enough drama, so bringing “constructive effectiveness” to Washington next year would be an historic contribution to a grateful nation – and world.
Roger C. Kostmayer
KW
Roger, if Bernie was a true blue Democrat you would have a point. In reality, he’s an independent running as a Democrat, a fact he hasn’t tried to hide. He’s not a party hack. Even if he was a true Democrat I don’t believe for a second that he would cow to the party leadership out of misguided loyalty. His issues are his issues, so if Bernie doesn’t win the nomination there’s no reason to believe he’ll back someone who doesn’t stand for them. Frankly, if he loses the Democratic nomination there’s just as likely a chance he’ll continue his campaign as an independent. We ain’t come this far…