Did and Did Not

[Whiskeytide]

5. I think Bernie was reluctant to fully ...

... embrace Hillary after the convention because he felt it might dilute his base to some extent. That was probably a correct assessment. His base had adopted an anti-establishment position and Hillary was the establishment. Some of his supporters (young and perhaps a little naive, felt it was not cool to join her after opposing her.

I suspect he - like many - took it for granted that she would defeat trump easily. So, he supported her, but I think it’s fair to say it was not a full throated call to rally to her. He was trying to walk a thin line. It was a calculated risk and it blew up in his face.

And it has damaged him for 2020. I know many Dems who might have supported him in the 2016 primary who are now firmly against him. I don’t know a single person who supported Hillary in the primary who might throw in with him this time. I think that means his run for 2020 is futile. He either doesn’t realize this, or he’s running for reasons other than actually prevailing. (And I’m not suggesting that such reasons might be nefarious - many candidates run to promote their platform and move the party, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing).

I generally like Bernie. And I can’t think of a single policy position he promotes that I disagree with in principal. But he is, unfortunately, uniquely positioned to muck things up to some extent. And his supporters are also uniquely vulnerable to manipulation from outside interests. For those reasons, I wish he wouldn’t run.