2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Will Bernie be as hated by progressives as Nader [View all]whatthehey
(3,660 posts)There is still a valid reason to maximize delegate count in order to influence the platform committee to include some of his priorities. That's what all but a few dreamers expected his run to achieve from the beginning. He has exceeded expectations and to completely shut out his populist appeal would be silly and self defeating. I'm no wild eyed Bernie or Bust nose-cutting naif, but it would take equivalent shortsightedness to not recognize and want to leverage the energy he brings to the race and his support.
I honestly doubt much in the primary has or will hurt any GE chances. He has not brought up anything close to the CT fantasies the RW have or will throw at her, and money surely won't be a problem for her. What GE harm he could cause is long already done, in hardening antipathy to HRC, but is limited to a few extreme ideologues who were unlikely to be reliable Dems in the first place. How many people who would otherwise have voted Clinton, do you think he has or could, short of running himself, dissuade from doing so? I prefer him myself, even donated, but I'd vote for Clinton's toenail clippings against the best Republican I can think of, which Trump surely isn't. Now there are plenty of DUers who will curse the ground HRC walks on 24/7, but when they are fueled with such seething resentment over issues Sanders hasn't even raised himself, how can he be blamed?
Is he going to win the nom? Almost certainly not. But why should he quit now? Why not go in with 2000 delegates and push for 45% of the platform assignments? What would it harm to graft some of the items that have excited new voters into the issues Clinton runs on, to make sure he can offer the same support she gave Obama with a clear conscience and the same populist siren call he's done so well so far?