With the latest election results, it seems pretty clear that Joe Biden will be the 2020 Democratic nominee for President. It’s now important to plan a sane path to a convention that sets up a strong general election campaign.
In the immediate aftermath, I wasn’t a fan of party attempts to force Bernie Sanders out of the race. There are still important states that haven’t voted and additional voices that should still be heard. Sanders had performed well in early contests and he’d earned the right to set his own schedule.
I was even of the opinion that the upcoming debate should go on as planned. Why on Earth would Democrats give up a televised opportunity to bring the party together with the last two remaining candidates after so many crowded and contentious debates? There are serious issues with numerous potential solutions that can be reasonably discussed by two senior statesmen to help Democrats come together to win in November. With COVID-19 and a stock market crash front and center, this would also be a wonderful time to showcase a Democratic party that knows how to lead.
And then Sanders made his statement.
While Sanders admitted that Biden was winning the delegate math, he insisted that his movement was still winning the ideological and generational debate. Huh? Dude, the majority of people that actually voted didn’t vote for you. It really is that simple.
Sanders then stated that he was looking forward to the debate and enumerated several campaign positions on which he planned to directly challenge Biden. This most certainly was not a list of possible discussion topics. This was an attack on moderates and a list of progressive demands.
Assuming that the debate really does take this form, consider for a moment how Sanders’ supporters would react if the situation was reversed:
- If Biden was essentially eliminated from contention but still insisted on taking Sanders to task in a one-on-one debate.
- If Biden still wanted to focus on politics when people were afraid of getting sick and going broke.
- If Biden directly attacked Sanders’ positions as half-baked, unreasonable, and unaffordable on prime-time television.
- If Biden publicly threatened Sanders with the support of older moderates unless he accepted position shifts toward the middle.
- If Trump could simply lift soundbites from the debate and run them over and over again in swing states to defeat Sanders.
But here’s the thing: We don’t really need to consider the above scenario. Biden would have never made the speech that Sanders did. And that’s why Sanders lost.
Sanders and his supporters conducted a similar slash and burn campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016. A 2020 rerun must be stopped before Sanders once again does Trump’s work for him. While I would have preferred to avoid the heavy-handed approach, the DNC needs to step in now and control the game.
If Sanders can’t play nice, he needs to be benched.