Sanders will run in 2020 if he's still kicking

[Jim Lane]

87. About vitriol, I don't need to use Google.

Last edited Thu Apr 13, 2017, 01:02 AM - Edit history (1)

Right here on DU, Bernie supporters were called terrible human beings, cultists, bedbugs, and a whole bunch of other vile names.

I'm not saying that all virtue was on our side and all vice on the Clinton side. That's a childish attitude. More specifically, it's a childish attitude that was held by some Sanders people, and the mirror image of which was held by some Clinton people.

Certainly there are still hard feelings. I hope that, for 2020, the Democratic Party can do a better job of enforcing its own rules requiring DNC neutrality. That would remove one cause of the hard feelings. Nevertheless, to the extent that there's resentment because "someone dared to disagree with and even criticize my preferred candidate!" -- a form of resentment that's found on both sides -- people on both sides just need to get over it. That's how campaigns work.

In 2008, Clinton herself attacked Obama with that disgusting "3:00 a.m. phone call" ad, which was picked up and used against Obama by McCain in the general election campaign. Fortunately, neither Clinton nor Obama followed your "Never Forget!" motto. She campaigned for him (as Bernie did for her this time), and he appointed her to his Cabinet. By the time the 2020 race gets underway, anyone who's still prioritizing grudges from 2015-16 will be widely regarded as a crank.

ETA: I meant to mention that one cause of hard feelings has been, if not eliminated, at least ameliorated. That's the superdelegate system. The reforms approved at the 2016 Democratic National Convention make the system significantly less undemocratic. That's a definite step forward.