PORTSMOUTH, NH—With Bernie
Sanders effectively conceding the race for the Democratic presidential
nomination just two weeks before his party’s national convention, the American
populace expressed their collective astonishment Tuesday that it had taken so
long for the primary election process to weed out a candidate with genuine
principles. “Wow, usually people who have passionate, heartfelt beliefs that
they’re unwilling to compromise are the first to go, but Bernie held on through
every state,” said 37-year-old Arizona resident Randall Strong, marveling aloud
as he tried and failed to recall the last time a candidate with an earnest and
enduring commitment to a set of deeply held values even made it to Super
Tuesday. “I’m genuinely amazed. Most of the time, people who believe in what
they say are out after Iowa or New Hampshire, if they even make it onto the
national stage in the first place. How he ran on a platform of strong,
unwavering convictions aimed at improving the lives of average Americans is
completely beyond me.” The American public admitted they would not be surprised
at all, however, by how short a time it would take for them to completely
forget about the honest principles championed by Sanders.
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Clinton’s General Election Strategy
With the primaries behind
them, the presumptive nominees from both parties must now assess how to
approach the general election. Here is how Hillary Clinton is strategizing her
campaign moving forward:
Woo Bernie supporters by
becoming 30 percent more curmudgeonly
Hold focus groups to help her
appeal to a more diverse array of America’s corporate entities
Establish strategic headquarters
in thousands of swing living rooms
Delete folder on laptop titled
“Liabilities 1998-2006”
Preempt Trump’s wild
conspiracy theories by clarifying exactly which former aides committed suicide
and which did not
Targeted TV ads that remind
viewers she can win this thing without their vote if she has to
Mothball border wall proposal
until inauguration
Surprise loyal supporters by
dropping into a few quarterly earnings meetings unannounced
Go window-to-window in key
districts to glare at undecided voters
Relax and continue being the
trusted, affable woman everyone knows and loves
The Long Victory of Bernie Sanders
[…]
By William Rivers Pitt,
Truthout | Op-Ed
"I have come here to make
it as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton," said
Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, "and why she must become our next
president."
With that, it was over. While
Sanders has not officially suspended his campaign, the deal has gone down. The
success he earned on the campaign trail gave him a seat at the table when the
platform was drafted, and will almost certainly get him a top speaking slot at
the convention, but he has reached the end of the line. His Secret Service
protection detail has been dismissed. That is about as final as it gets.
It is, at first glance, a
preposterous thing in modern American politics that Bernie Sanders did so well.
Here was a 74-year-old man from a tiny state with wild white hair and a voice
like a bowling ball rolling down an alley in Brooklyn matched up against a true
juggernaut. The Clinton campaign had all the money, all the endorsements, all
the high-profile recognition one could ever ask for. Bernie had Bernie, and a
message.
The television behind me is
bellowing about Donald Trump and Mike Pence and Newt Gingrich and Hillary
Clinton. It yells even when I turn it down, and it still shouts when I turn it
off entirely. This is the campaign of The Shout, a roomful of fools and frauds
and farce that beggars likeness.
[…]
And then there was Bernie with
a bird on his podium and a message redolent of Occupy. "This
election," said Sanders on Tuesday, "is about the single mom I saw in
Nevada who, with tears in her eyes, told me that she was scared to death about
the future because she and her young daughter were not making it on the $10.45
cents an hour she was earning. This election is about that woman, and the
millions of other workers in this country who are falling further and further
behind as they try to survive on totally inadequate wages."
This was his message. Low pay,
economic inequality, Wall Street crime, looming environmental catastrophe, free
or affordable education; he gave the same speech by rote for more than a year
because the message cannot be repeated often enough, and in doing so, Bernie
Sanders inspired millions. He showed us what we can be instead of what we are,
and it was balm for the soul. The most unexpected presidential candidacy in
modern American history very nearly pulled it off.
That gives me hope. There are
a lot of people today walking around with their heads down, and rightly so:
This Trump v. Clinton contest is a perfect nightmare, made entirely for
television and with all the honor and character of a hard fall down a long set of
stairs. No matter who wins, we will all lose. People got invested in the
Sanders candidacy in a way not seen for decades. His departure is like the
tolling of a grim bell, solemn, distant and gone, leaving only a hum in the
ears to remind you it was there at all.
But it happened.
[…]
For a time, Bernie Sanders
showed us something other than fear or corporate hegemony or permanent war. He
showed us our best selves with a bull-throated roar, and people listened. He
reminded us that despite what we hear from the media, the struggle for justice
and equality is far from over. His departure from the presidential race signals
no end point in this fight; that it happened at all is proof positive that the
ground is richly fertile for genuine change.
Hillary Clinton is a fully
owned corporate entity with a faux-populist message drafted on the back of a
cocktail napkin at a Goldman Sachs convention.
[…]
These are our alleged options
now, a choice between Wall Street and reality TV.
But Bernie happened, is
happening, is. Not since Robert Kennedy have we witnessed so transformative a
presidential candidate. He raced down the long campaign highway that had been
promised to Hillary Clinton and fell ten steps short. His success is ours; it
is the scholarship of the possible, of what people sick of corporate politics
can accomplish. He did not win, but stands victorious. Do not forget what he
has done. Do not let your children forget.
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