2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: What Hillary Supporters Know but Are Having Difficulty Accepting... [View all]PATRICK
(12,228 posts)the first woman president and leadership of the woman bloc meme because they don't need to stir things in a way to actually prop up her base. As far as they are concerned her base is also the 1%- at least for the primary. Anyway strangeness is all in bent media politics. They probably delighted in the first black versus the first woman meme back in the last real contest because it divided Dems and allowed the haters to revel in chauvinism and racism at the same time. but of course, other than successfully distracting the nation from hard issues it had no effect on the real election. The way they played the real and open "centrist" lean of Obama was self triangulation by the confused self-deflected news class and left Dems secure in the hope and change general emotion.
Whatever the intent of the news media this time, they will refuse absolutely and forever to bring up any real(rule of law, economic crisis, global climate crisis, basic survival, truth, election theft, stuff like that) issues at all. What is different is that is not fine at all with Sanders as it has been, frustratingly so, with almost every other candidate. Now or back then- a long ways back then. As with Edwards they gave him a few magazine tributes and then ditched the odd phenom for TPTB.
The wishful thinking of both camps, of those in contact with the general voting public is not going to be predictive or sure of anything. Instead the scenarios should be worked out not how delegate votes or states will be pieced out but how ugly or desperate this contest will turn out to be. There is not actually a bevy of polite candidates as in Hillary's first run to diffuse tension or tone down charged expectations. There have been too few debates to work anything out. The blood will be all over the primary landscape and only Sanders seems to be trying to avoid what the Clinton camp seems to disdain contemplating.
Early routs will settle most things. Division of results will finally make this contest real. The power game versus the populist game will get really ugly. The sad leadership of this generally sad world will get the rug pulled out from under us with the constant threat of people getting the opposite of what they both need and desire. Maybe Trump. My God, ten thousand years of human civilization and we have this dogshit choice. Good can lose and evil win, then a lot of people die needlessly. That is not choice but a nutcase species needing intervention.