For all intents and purposes, Joe Biden dealt Bernie Sanders a knockout blow in their (now two-man) fight for the Democratic presidential nomination on Super Tuesday. I duly celebrated with the Ali-like headline, “Super Tuesday: A Biden Shocker,” March 4, 2020.
More to the point, though, Bernie himself effectively threw in the towel one week later. That’s when he conceded that his Michigan firewall turned out to be a mirage, which did nothing to protect his flailing candidacy.
Nevertheless, he’s persisting.
Sen. Bernie Sanders announced in Burlington on Wednesday that he will not end his bid for the presidency, despite a string of losses in key states.
Sanders said he looks forward to debating Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday and plans to question him about policies on which they disagree, such as Medicare for all.
(Burlington Free Press, March 11, 2020)
Mind you, Bernie even acknowledges that, while voters like many of his ideas, they clearly find Joe more electable.
Anyway, as Yogi Berra would say, this is déjà vu all over again. Because Bernie seems hell-bent on doing to Joe in 2020 what he did to Hillary in 2016.
I presaged the fratricidal damage he was causing back then long before we ended up with President-elect Donald J. Trump on November 9, 2016. Here is an excerpt from “Dude, I Feel the Bern Too. But…,” May 21, 2016:
____________________
I was feeling the Bern long before Millennials — who are now fueling Bernie Sanders’s campaign — even knew his name. But, like their misguided Arab Spring counterparts, these wannabe revolutionaries seem fully prepared to ‘cut off their nose to spite their face’:
At least some supporters of the Vermont senator insist they won’t vote for Clinton, no matter what. Many view the former secretary of state with her deep ties to the Democratic establishment as the polar opposite of Sanders and his rallying cry of political revolution. Throwing their weight behind her White House bid would feel like a betrayal of everything they believe.
(The Atlantic, May 5, 2016)
Hence their misguided rallying cry: Bernie or Bust! … Let’s not be stupid about this … kids.
Bernie is manifesting cult-like ideations about his leadership that are giving me cause to pause.
I see nothing wrong with him staying in the race until the last vote is counted. But he’s now venting Trumpian nonsense about the Democratic system, which nominated Obama over Hillary, being rigged against him.
Not only is this not cool, it’s selfish, irresponsible, and even irrational.
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That was four years ago. Unfortunately, as my Yogi reference indicates, Bernie has clearly learned nothing from the historic blunder he caused back then.
This is why so many of his supporters still aren’t bothering to register, let alone vote. But equally troubling is the virtue signaling Bernie is still giving to those who are fired up and ready not just to boo but to vote.
Because, as it was with Hillary, by persisting despite the odds against Joe, Bernie is reinforcing that same misguided view among his supporters that it’s him or no Democrat. That’s how we ended up with Trump in 2016. That’s how we can end up with Trump again in 2020.
As James Carville said in his inimitable style, paying homage to Guy Fawkes no less:
Remember, remember, it’s about November! Let’s shut this puppy down. … [T]here’s no reason to keep it going, not even a day longer.
(MSNBC, March 10, 2020)
Hear, hear!
Therefore, here’s to Bernie getting off his high horse and becoming the foot soldier he repeatedly promised he’d become to help Joe defeat Trump. The Democratic Party has already given him 10 debates to proselytize his Democratic-Socialist views. Not to mention media coverage of his Groundhog-Day campaign rallies. (Have you caught yourself chanting along because you’ve heard one or another of his slogans so often?)
Democratic voters have spoken. So the last they need is to watch these two old geezers drooling off hackneyed talking points about healthcare or anything else.
Frankly, the only thing Sunday’s mano-a-mano debate will do is provide more air time for Bernie to show off his passive-aggressive narcissism and for Joe to fight off his stutter-triggering gaffes. The only presidential candidate that will help is Trump.
Speaking of the devil, social distancing to stop the spread of coronavirus will preclude Trump from counter-programing with a campaign rally on Sunday night. Therefore, he’s bound to use the emergency powers he was boasting about this week to do something to draw attention away from Bernie and Joe.
Per
haps he’ll make a “Truman Show” of self-quarantining now that Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, has tested positive for coronavirus.
After all, pictures show Wajngarten schmoozing so intimately with Trump after dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, the men could not have avoided inhaling each other’s spicy breath.
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