Why Bernie Should Stay in the Race

At this point, it looks like a bleak and unlikely road to the nomination for Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton's delegate lead isn't insurmountable per se, but the amount of things that he needs to go right to get the delegate lead make it highly unlikely for him. Naturally, the mainstream media is calling for him to quit the race so Hillary can better focus on the national election. But, I say he should stay in precisely because it makes things more difficult for Hillary. Since the primary season started, Hillary's negatives have climbed higher and higher, to the point where her only saving graces are that people hate Drumpf and Cruz even more than they hate her. Now, being hated less than a pseudo-fascist and the Zodiac Killer (page 32 is the relevant page, fyi) isn't really a strong foundation to launch a national campaign for the hearts and minds of voters, and it's exactly this advantage that Bernie should press as the July convention draws closer.


Hillary has treated the entire run of the Sanders campaign as a peasant interrupting her coronation party, and with each attack on her record of  being an agent for Wall Street and a warmonger it's forced Hilary to defend all of these positions in front of a wide audience. Naturally, since these are all terrible policies, her defenses of them have been well, less than convincing, hence her ever climbing negatives. As the campaign goes on and her defenses push the public dislike for her ever higher, Hillary will be put in a position where she will have to cater to and gain the voters that have so far backed Sanders. Naturally, she is loath to do this, and when Rachel Maddow asked her the question three times at the recent MSNBC Town Hall event Hillary evaded the question each time by bringing up that she's already winning the primary.  It's understandable why she wouldn't bother to answer the question, since pursuing a progressive agenda that doesn't benefit her base of wealthy plutocrats is antithetical to what she's built her entire political career on.  The fact that Hillary doesn't see Sanders' voters as people she actively needs to win over (meaning, she expects him to play ball and stump for her to his supporters when he concedes defeat) is a pretty glaring strategic flaw in her thinking, especially since Sanders has all but stated he's going to do no such thing unless Hillary adopts specific policy positions (namely, his.)

But if she's forced into a position where she has no real option but to offer progressive policies, than that gives the resurgent progressive wing of the Democratic party a level of power and influence it hasn't had since the Clintons spearheaded the New Democrats movement and its accompanying right-ward shift in policy. The best thing Sanders has done in this race is show the country is that a candidate that runs on a truly progressive platform can generate the money and voter base to sustain a national campaign. With that new found recognition and the engagement that it brings, the progressive wing of the party should start focusing on using that power to curtail and bring to heel the neoliberal and interventionist tendencies of Hillary and her ilk.

If Hillary is going to be President, which is the most likely outcome of all this, than it should be a Presidency bound and constrained by all the constituencies Hillary has spent her entire life throwing to the wolves. If she is to have her dream, let's all do the world a favor and have it turn to ash in her mouth.

RT