Bernie is back (and so am I) I-VII
On February 19 2019, US Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he’ll be running for president again next year.
This news came not as a surprise, but instantly filled me with aversion. In the 2016 preliminaries, having deliberately chosen the side of Hillary Clinton, I’d started a sarcastic polemic to defy Sanders’s candidacy. In a series of articles and essays I challenged and exposed stunning hypocrisy and egomania and in the process got myself alienated from beloved friends and family — all devoted ‘Sandernistas’ — in the process.
Needless to say, it was an agonising experience.
However, since Bernie wishes to run the show once more, now that he has entered the arena, I promise that I will critically follow his every move. And I fully intend not to moderate my tone or vocabulary, and be kind.
I
Let me just start off with saying a few nice things about Bernie Sanders. I appreciate the Senator for putting the right socio-political issues on the agenda of public discourse: climate and environment, social (in)justice, economic (in)equity, access to healthcare and education.
And what I admire senator Sanders for are these two things: 1) the way he has accomplished an impressive mobilisation of young American voters and 2) how he has managed to run a campaign against the odds of poor media coverage and largely paid for by grassroots fundraising.
That having said, I’d seriously wish that Sanders had left the arena to the ‘way more interesting and definitely way more fresh candidates’ (as my friend Simon put it) that are in the run this time. I have no doubt that he’ll try and do anything to obstruct and frustrate them, thus, once again, helping to pave the way for Donald Trump.
II
How did I do? I said some nice and kind things about Bernie Sanders and I meant all of them. Seriously.
As I mentioned before, a friend pointed out that there are ‘way more interesting and definitely way more fresh candidates’ that have entered the competition for the Democratic presidential nomination. Another friend asked me which of these candidates had my interest. I admit that I am too uninformed to make that pick (yet).
‘Why do Dems have to pick a milquetoast candidate when the Right gets to have all their psychos elected?’ someone with a solid preference for Senator Sanders added to the conversation, which I thought was an odd way to make a case…
So this was the plan: when eleven people had confirmed their candidacy, including Bernie, I had never heard of most of them. Five of them were women. Since Hillary Clinton put some serious cracks in the ‘glass ceiling’ last time, thus paving the way for a female President of the USA, I would start getting acquainted with the ladies first. See if I could come up with an early endorsement.
III (later)
Let us on the day after International Women’s Day not forget the tragic fact that in 2016 many American women instead of electing their peer– in fact by far the best candidate for the job — into the highest political office of their country, chose to pave the way for the crazy clown that we are stuck with since, directly or indirectly.
But let us not dwell in the past. This time, the list of Democratic president hopefuls is impressive… in length. So far 13 candidates have announced their candidacy, including sanctimonious grumpy ‘Jewish uncle’ Bernie Sanders. I’m curious if any of them, and indeed their party as such, has it in them to win the general elections of 2020.
At this point it’s too early to have a clear idea about next year’s primaries but it doesn’t take a genius to see where possible pitfalls lie. Let’s say, we’ve be there before. Based on our experience, I dare say Senator Bernie Sanders’s candidacy is a hazard for the final outcome.
Most likely Bernie won’t be able (or willing) to discipline his disciples into genuine support for a presidential Democratic candidate who is someone else than himself.
IV (later)
So Joe Biden is out, before he even got in, or so it seems. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where the attack came from. When Lucy Flores, a Latina career politician from Nevada, came up with her well timed attempted character assassination of former Vice President Joe Biden, I frowned. Biden had made her feel ‘uneasy, gross, and confused’, she said, at a campaign event five years ago. Poor thing.
Well, let’s make it very clear that we don’t like the idea of kind-hearted grandpa-like men getting all to cosy cuddly with younger women (or men), approaching them from behind, sniffling their hair and putting a gentle kiss on top of it. No matter how genuine his intention to express ‘affection, support and comfort’ was, it’s inappropriate, even gross .
And I strongly agree with former Latino gang member and Bernie Sanders supporter Ms. Flores that the discourse ‘shouldn’t be about his intentions. It should be about the women on the receiving end of that behaviour.’
That having said, I’d like to point out the fact that Joe Biden, even before formally entering the crowded arena of Democratic presidential hopefuls, was by far the most popular candidate — and actually potentially the most successful one against Trump for the nomination. Needless to say this didn’t sit well with Sanders and his entourage, whom we already know to be sore losers.
Politics is a nasty game, and Bernie knows well how to play it dirty. We may expect more of this farce to come. Too early to predict anything, but my gut feeling says that Pamela Harris’s will be the next head on the Senator’s chopping block.
V
I’d like to remind you of a simple and verifiable fact. In the 2016 presidential elections Hillary Rodham Clinton managed to mobilise an all time record of 65.844.954 voters. Nationwide she received 2.87 million more votes than Trump — the largest margin ever for a candidate who lost the electoral college.
So, if anyone wants to criticise HRC’s campaign, let them also bear in mind that she accomplished those astounding results in spite of misogynous slander, Russian interference with her campaign and the hateful opposition of Bernie Sanders and his devotees.
Then why, one wonders, did Democratic hopeful ‘Mayor Pete’ Buttigieg find it necessary to (falsely!) accuse Clinton cum suis of (unlike Trump) not addressing ‘the huge troubles in our economy and our democracy’?
Why this, instead of pointing out that America’s democracy is flawed by a non-functional electoral college and the rise of populism. I can’t help but believe that this was a strategic charge, to go with the flow of populism and thus please the aficionados of the Bern.
If that’d be the case, he’s probably also aware of the thinness of the ice he is skating on. For now, I’m inclined to give Mayor Pete the benefit of the doubt, just because I like him and he’s smart.
VI (much later)
With New York mayor Bill the Blasio in the race for the American presidency, we now have 23 declared democratic hopefuls on a ridiculously long list that may still be growing. Too many, I’d say.
Here they are in random order: Michael Bennet (54), U.S. Senator, Colorado; Joe Biden (76), former Vice President; Cory Booker (50), U.S. Senator, New Jersey; Steve Bullock (53), governor of Montana; Pete Buttigieg (37), mayor of South Bend, Indiana; Julian Castro (44), former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; John Delaney (56), U.S. Representative, Maryland; Tulsi Gabbard (38), U.S. Representative, Hawaii; Kirsten Gillibrand (52), U.S. Senator, New York; Kamala Harris (54), U.S. Senator, California; John Hickenlooper (67), former Governor of Colorado; Jay Inslee (68), Governor of Washington; Amy Klobuchar (58), U.S. Senator, Minnesota; Wayne Messam (44), mayor of Miramar, Florida; Seth Moulton (40), U.S. Representative, Massachusetts; Beto O’Rourke (46), former U.S. Representative, Texas; Tim Ryan (45), U.S. Representative, Ohio; Bernie Sanders (77), U.S. Senator, Vermont; Eric Swalwell (38), U.S. Representative, California; Elizabeth Warren (69), U.S. Senator, Massachusetts; Marianne Williamson (66), self-help author, Andrew Yang (44), entrepreneur, and last and perhaps least, Bill de Blasio (58), mayor of New York City.
How to choose? May I propose an easy and effective, if drastic selection criterion? Like in the 2016 election I feel strongly that we should prefer and choose A WOMAN to be the next president of the United States.
This then leaves us with six candidates to focus on: Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Marianne Williamson. And forget about the rest.
VII
Thus having drastically reduced the number of Democratic candidates to six, a few remarks to the ones that we’ve dismissed.
‘Mayor Pete’ Buttigieg, though I like and appreciate you, based on research I believe that America is not ready for a gay president. (By all means, prove me wrong.) Perhaps in the not too far future, I certainly hope so. But now our main focus is winning the election, and removing the ridiculous, the outrageously barbaric from office.
‘Uncle Joe’ Biden. Mister former Vice President, much I respect you, I agree with Senator Pamela Harris, that you would be a ‘great running mate’. As presidential nominee you would be too easy a target to mock and ridicule.
Senator ‘Bernie’ Sanders, the same goes for you. It would be very much appreciated if you’d strategically focus on one single goal: mobilising your radical supporters behind the female Democratic nominee, unreservedly. I know this is probably too much to ask, but I beg you, please, it’s not about you. Our entire civilisation is at stake.
Thank you and you’re welcome.
