"I Used to Support Bernie, but Then I Changed My Mind"- Tom Hayden

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I have a variety of concerns about both candidates’ campaigns. But I intend to vote for Hillary Clinton in the California primary for one fundamental reason.

I  am committed to building a united front against Donald Trump, and working with both Democratic and independent voters toward the best possible ticket and platform for the Democratic Party in November. But sounding out supporters of both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, I’m worried that terrible friction is brewing between the two Democratic camps left in this primary.

Democrats all have to unite to win the White House and Supreme Court this year, building bridges without permanent bruising or the confusion of divide-and-conquer.

The state of the race is in flux. Respect and support for Bernie are rising, though Hillary maintains a 212-delegate edge. As of April 3, The New York Times assessed that Bernie will need “landslide” victories in the battles ahead. He’s certain to win more than the 16 states where he has already prevailed. Most of those states have been similar to Wisconsin, where 88 percent of the population is white, an enduring issue for the Sanders campaign. But of the major primaries that are coming up, several might fruitful territory for Bernie. In New York, Hillary will need to tack towards Bernie on fair-trade issues or face losses in the Rust Belt regions of northern and western New York. Here in California, Bernie trails Hillary by six points, with 7 percent of the electorate undecided. And my sense is that California is winnable for Bernie. Lose or win, Bernie represents the most impressive independent campaign in American history, with the final chapters and legacy yet to be written.

I was an early supporter of Bernie, one of those who thought he could push Hillary to the left, legitimize democratic socialist measures, and leave an indelible mark on our frozen political culture. More deeply, I believed he was the best possible messenger in the wake of Democratic Party shortcomings. As I have argued for years, the liberal failure to create jobs in my Rust Belt heartland, Michigan, for three decades, destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives. Even after the activist explosion against free trade at the Battle of Seattle in 1999, standards of living remained stagnant. It was clear that the next generation would live lesser lives than our parents had. The tuition for a four-year public university education almost doubled in cost between 2000 and 2015, while student debt rose to 1.2 trillion dollars in 2015. Racial disparities rose with police violence and mass incarceration rates. Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin fell to Republican governors and Congress returned to GOP control.


http://www.thenation.com/article/i-used-to-support-bernie-but-then-i-changed-my-mind/

[Thinkingabout]

1. I would think early supporters would want Sanders would have predicted he would have been

able to explain his agenda better than what has occurred. It did not get better, still questions not answered, so many times there was diversion from the question and right back to his traditional financial statement.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Tom Hayden was a real revolutionary. Period.

[JackRiddler]

7. "Was" is correct. So is "isn't."

40 years ago, he was. He hasn't been since then.

[msanthrope]

9. Yeah..and when did Bernie march? nt

[JackRiddler]

11. Bernie met with Verizon strike leaders yesterday.

When did Clinton last do such a thing? March, support a strike, etc.?

[msanthrope]

19. Like I said...if Bernie's marches from 40 years ago are to be trumpeted, why dismiss Hayden's

activism from the same period?

[JackRiddler]

20. Yesterday. Bernie met with Verizon strike leaders YESTERDAY.

You don't win by not reading and repeating the same talking point verbatim.

I do not dismiss Hayden's activism from the same period. I observe his many opportunistic turns since then in the role of a middle-brow public intellectual.

[msanthrope]

30. Awesome. I'm sure that erases whatever Tom Hayden did. nt

[JackRiddler]

31. No, it renders questionable what he says now.

It's been his schtick for 40 years.

[msanthrope]

34. That's great. nt

[CorkySt.Clair]

24. Because he's not supporting "Bernie".

If he were, he would be the greatest thing ever.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. He has chose to work within the system...

He has chose to work within the system just like Senator Bernie Sanders.

[JackRiddler]

13. So what's your point to call him a "revolutionary"?

You can't have it both ways.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. He was a revolutionary. He was also facing felony charges for his commitment to said revolution.

Charges were bullshit though... It was a police riot.

[JackRiddler]

17. Yes, it was a police riot.

And a bullshit trial.

And a rigged convention.

And a criminal war of aggression that Johnson had pursued, against which the protesters were righteous.

So we at least seem to have consensus about Chicago 1968.

[Peace Patriot]

22. And what did he revolutionize?

He's been an establishment politician for over four decades--rather like John Lewis, in my opinion, and also Jerry Brown--all these FORMER leftist leaders now turned Corporatist. And now Hayden's endorsing the most corrupt political machine in U.S. history, with a candidate, Hillary Clinton, who has Henry Fucking Kissinger as a close friend and advisor, and Robert Kagan (chief neo-con: "Project For a New American Century" - blueprint for Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld's slaughter of a hundred thousand innocent people in Iraq, and Clinton's destruction of Libya). Hillary Clinton is not only a warmonger, she is personally profiting from war and used the Secretary of State's office for that purpose.

I'd say, a) Hayden is bought and paid for, and b) he's jealous of a REAL revolution happening now, with the Bernie Sanders campaign, and Hayden not leading it.

[msanthrope]

35. Perfect answer. nt

[Politicalboi]

3. Oh well, a lost chance to make a change

He's the odd one out here in Ca. He probably has a lot of money he needs tax havens for. So he chose the right one for sure. All Hail MONEY!!!!

[oasis]

37. The more you learn, the less you feel the Bern. (eom)

[Human101948]

4. I think Hillary supporters will have to reject this one...

Hayden had a grandiose fantasy of becoming President of the United States — and Jane was determined to make him famous. To that end, stories about ‘Tom and Jane’ would appear in the Press — it was never ‘Jane and Tom’ because Hayden insisted on his name coming first.
Once, when she did something that displeased him — she was receiving too much attention — he encouraged her to discuss her short-comings in front of him and other friends. And Jane meekly obliged.
To the despair of her brother Peter and daughter Vanessa, who both loathed Hayden, she allowed herself to be belittled for years. ‘I simply didn’t think my ideas or feelings were as important or credible as his,’ she confessed later.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2033795/Jane-Fonda-said-biggest-regret-sleeping-Che-Guevara.html#ixzz45dT6692w
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[msanthrope]

5. Wow. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Real.Revolutionary.Full. Stop.

[msanthrope]

8. Yes. I'm a bit taken aback. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. He mentions the young Hillary rocking a black arm band during the Viet Nam War.

I rocked a black arm band on Moratorium Day when I was a fifth grader in P.S. 175 in Queens, NY.

[RampageSnipa586]

14. I'm still confused as to why you changed your mind.

You didn't quite explain why you changed over. You talk of jobs and tuition which is right up Bernie's alley when it comes to fixing the infrastructure(which Michigan, where I'm from, desperately needs) and free college tuition, so why did you switch over to support Hillary? just curious. don't need a huge answer.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. You mean Tom Hayden changed his mind. I am just a random internet poster.

PEACE

[JackRiddler]

18. "Changing his mind" has been Tom Hayden's schtick for decades.

[Romulox]

21. If you support a Warmonger, then you are a Warmonger

regardless of what you "used to be" so long ago.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. For some people, counterculture is valuable precisely because it's not winning.

Adopting my counterculture as the culture would be the worst possible scenario. It's important preserve the culture so I can keep my identity as an outlier.

Bernie was cool only so long as he was a protest candidate.

Oh, and it wasn't "liberalism" that destroyed the rust belt - that label has been misapplied to the corporatists and free traders that only call themselves progressives.

[Vinca]

25. The GOP thanks you for this announcement, Tom.

"The role of Bill Ayers will be played by Tom Hayden in the 2016 general election."

[whatchamacallit]

26. Whatever

I respect everyone's choice whether I agree or not. I don't need Hayden, Warren, Obama... to validate mine.

[kennetha]

27. More and More of these sorts of articles are appearing.

The Bern has no clothes


Here's another one:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/12/bernie-sanders-betrayed-hillary-clinton-attacks

[Lucinda]

28. I'm glad to see the depth of his understanding of her position about fracking. Too many

people don't bother to look at specifics of her very limited support, and what her plans are to make it a thing of the past.

I think he greatly misses the mark when viewing her as a hawk. She simply isn't. And a little digging into what was accomplished at state on many diplomatic fronts, might have given him a bit more confidence in her desire for peace.

Nevertheless, I am glad to see his support of Hillary. He has been on the front line of many hugely important issues for my entire life, and his endorsement is an important one.

[w4rma]

29. So, if I'm reading this correctly, he supports Bernie on every issue, but wants to give up on them.

Because he thinks that it's "too hard" to do it, because Republilcans will control everything, according to him, for the foreseeable future, and because Sanders will hurt her too much on fracking, but Sanders hasn't been attacked yet.

Although he glosses over the fact that Clinton is already a damaged candidate with a 55%+ unfavorability who, has zero coattails and if elected would get no honeymoon period, and that Sanders is the only candidate left has a net positive fallibility and he carries the independent voters by 2 to 1 over the Republicans.

With people like Hayden as the activists of the past, I can see why and how they have been losing for years.

[tularetom]

32. "I used to give a shit what Tom Hayden thought, but then I changed my mind"- me

That would have been about 1968, if I'm remembering it correctly.

[Jitter65]

33. Sorry, Tom. No more room under the bus. You have to go under the train. nt

[oasis]

36. Tom finally woke up to smell the coffee. nt