Dear Bernie,
I’m not going to be very popular when I say this, but I am pissed at you. Here’s the thing, when you come into a group and work for change, when you get a seat at the table, when your influence is felt in every facet of the party, then you need *f—king* stay and do the work.
I was so proud of you and our party at the beginning of this election cycle. You and Hillary were able to state your cases without trashing one another. You refused to descend into name-calling. I listened to your ideas and hers and was pleased when my party moved closer to its progressive roots. I felt like we couldn’t lose no matter who one the nomination.
Now I wonder. Now I am thinking of all the bills you didn’t sponsor in your 30 years in the Senate. I’m remembering when I gave you a pass on some issues that are important to me because I thought you could be moved along, much in the way Hillary’s policies moved to the left. Whichever way things went it was clear that we would be working to find common ground on the places we disagree.
You came in and shook up the party. Great! I mean it. This nation needs two strong, opposing points of view to move us to find ‘a third way’. We lost our strength in those kinds of negotiations when we moved further and further to the right of center. It’s kind of like we had a reboot. I thank you for that, Bernie.
BUT YOU NEED TO STAY AND DO THE WORK. I was part of an organization in which energetic and well-meaning people stepped in, made large decisions that affected the very existence of the organization… and then left without doing the work of the things they set in motion. I resent that you are doing the same thing. You are not taking responsibility for your actions.
Actually, I am glad you are not the nominee because we need someone who will do the work. The tough, boring work of brokering change. Speeches are moving. Ideas transcend. But if you are not willing to work with people with disparate points of view, if you are not willing to walk the long, tedious walk required, then you just used us.
We deserve better than that.
Used is such a strong word. He opened our eyes to the fact that within our party there was dissent. He gave a voice to those who might have been ignored as fringe elements. He brokered a more progressive version of the party platform and, in the Senate, can work to keep it moving through Congress.
It is in the small things that one becomes great. Anyone (Trump) can plow through right to the finish but it takes a greater person to hand the baton to the finisher.
Think of Bernie as the last man on and Hillary as the clean-up batter.
Team effort.
Yes, Bernie did all of those things, but when he got a glimpse of stardom, he started tearing Hillary down and said some things that everybody has taken to heart. He went too far. Yes, he upset the apple cart, and now, judging from the reactions of some st the convention, doesn’t seem to have the tools to upright it again. If Hillary loses because his supporters didn’t vote for her, he will need to blame and will have probably destroyed his legacy along with his ability to have any influence with his colleagues in Congress.
Thanks, Connie, for this reflection. You speak truth. Sanders didn’t campaign and raise money for Democrats across the country over many years like Hillary did, and wonders why she has superdelegates and the support of the Democratic National Committee. He also did not prepare his supporters to support the party’s nominee. He got what he wanted in the platform, and yet abandons the party!
This has been my concern all along. Words are cheap. Anyone can spout this rhetoric.
This has been my persistent question to all the Bernie fans: What has he actually accomplished in all his years in the Senate? If you can’t tell me, then why would you support this person as our country’s president? Come on now, I know you’re smarter than that! Aren’t you?