Listen up Bernistas! I think this is Canada's message to US

[Pangolino]

67. The NDP's defeat

The NDP got caught on the wrong side of the wave of anti-Harper sentiment, in the sense that they have for years been heading in the direction of Tony Blair / Bill Clinton / PASOK / etc. and were therefore unable to campaign with the force of Sanders / Corbyn / Syriza, etc.. The NDP campaign here was extremely weak - embarrassing for progressives, to be honest, and they were absolutely unable to capture the imagination of the public. What alternative is there when you accept that there is no alternative?

In Canada, we gave too much power to Harper as a figure. I think in the US you have an advantage in that, no matter how crappy your mass media is, the framing will not likely end up being "we need to vote for anyone but Trump". No Republican contender has that kind of power. I just hope that gloating over how inept the Republicans have become does not sap too much energy. From here in Canada, it looks like what matters down there is the fight over the soul of the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders has given that party a tremendous gift in showing that that soul is worth fighting for.