The Centrist Media Spin Against Sanders Is Not Supported by Numbers
Warren and Bloomie enable the cynicism that emboldens Trump.
This is why it’s a problem that Warren stayed in on Tuesday rather than endorse Bernie to level the playing field strategically skewed by Centrists. This is why Bloomberg’s late bloom is a special ops mission designed only to help make sure Bernie Sanders doesn’t win.
This race is a race driven by momentum and inspiration. Together, Warren and Bloomberg kept the nation from seeing just how close a race this really is, and quite possibly from letting Bernie edge past Joe. Even with Warren’s count alone, Bernie would be neck and neck, and he’s pulled this off running on the most progressive platform we’ve ever seen, normalizing ideas the establishment now must pay lip service to but still secretly abhors.
So I’d appreciate it if all the smug haters would just take a step back, question the motivations of the party proper and shut up about, “so where is Bernie’s momentum?”
Sanders has gone from “fringe” to unstoppable frontrunner despite every setback and obstructionist tactic that’s leveled at him. That is Bernie’s momentum. That’s the power of his entirely people-funded grassroots campaign. And this sort of play by Democrats is demoralizing the electorate, which in turns dulls the edge and dims the light of our democracy.
You’re making smug remarks from the wrong side of this political moment. There’s a reason getting this nomination is so hard for Bernie, and it’s because establishment democrats — for their personal gain — would rather throw this election and have 4 more years of Trump than to empower a reformer who will stand up for the underprivileged and vulnerable.
There’s a reason Tom Perez gasped a sigh of relief when Biden won in South Carolina and prematurely declared him the obvious choice of the DNC; a reason why Hillary Clinton creeped out of the shadows again to belittle Bernie’s grassroots campaign right ahead of Super Tuesday.
Let me be clear. When I say you’re on the “wrong side,” I mean you’re on the side that’s mocking democracy, suppressing the will of the people, crystallizing apathy and protecting privilege (very likely against your own interest).
Like millions of others, I wish folks were bolder, more hopeful. I know so many on the “other side” of this moment that are awesome people, people whose spirits are more loving, compassionate and caring than the consequences of their shoulder-shrug views — enough so that it breaks my heart to look at results like this and realize how easily ours could start becoming a much more caring, vibrant nation.
Sanders having gained those split numbers last night would not have given him the nomination, true, but it wouldn’t have allowed all the cynical corporate coverage that this movement now needs to endure.
453 vs 432 (or 476ish) would have been a far more accurate depiction of where this nation stands at the end of Super Tuesday.
Let me explain: if we assume Bloomberg’s count reflects votes by people who don’t want Joe, but “something different,” at least a portion would have swung to Bernie. Less arguable is this: Warren’s count is made up mostly of progressives who would, given the nudge by their candidate, choose Bernie over Joe. Whether Bernie were winning now or super close, the morale of the movement behind him would enjoy the hope and validation it’s fought hard to secure.
This would have made it easier for him to keep growing his momentous campaign rather than now trying to offset the fear and despair of those who think the most genuine candidate of their lifetime — one worth believing in — can’t get a fair shot. This is the fear and despair that those of you on the Centrist fence are helping to stoke by not putting your values first.
Admittedly, I write this to encourage soul searching. It’s not yet too late. The primaries aren’t over and there are still fence-straddlers in each state. It’s time for us all to ask deep questions, and truly decide what it is that we stand for.
I stand, above all, for giving democracy a shot. Get out of the way and let people choose the election they want to see. Not only that, but join them in choosing it. Put differently, don’t demoralize our electorate, electrify it. Look at the people who have built Bernie’s momentum and assess their values and policies: are these the people you’d rather hang with, or is it the establishment hellbent on preserving a status quo at the expense of the masses?
This is where the line is drawn.
If you want to embolden democracy, help sustain the American economic model, stop illegal wars, save the environment or believe immigrants deserve a pathway to citizenship … if you say you want these things and aren’t for Bernie, you’re on the wrong side, and that side would sooner aid four more years of Donald Trump than reform an unsustainable system.
Make a choice consistent with who you are. And while you’re at it, fight for it.
#Bernie2020 #NotMeUs
