2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhat is Bernie's real agenda now?
His real agenda is to enact progressive legislation that he has supported into law: single payer health care, a living wage (high minimum wage), reduce corporate influence on Americans etc. To get that done he or people who support his ideas need to be in position of power and his "revolution" is all about doing this.
Will he win the Democratic nomination for President at the DNC? No, and he clearly knows that, though many of his most ardent supporters as well as Clinton's most ardent supporters do not understand that he has already signaled that he understands the political reality. This will all play out over the next few weeks. Why not an official concession now? Because he has bigger fish to fry than his own nomination. He understands that this country does not have enough elected progressives and that there are large numbers of Americans who do not yet buy into progressive politics. That's a key reason why he did not win the nomination. That's why he is calling for supporters to run for office now. The groundwork for the kind of revolution Bernie envisions needs to laid. It's clear to many cognizant of political reality that even if Bernie had won the nomination and been elected that most of his agenda could not be enacted without a progressive supermajority in the Senate and a progressive majority in the House, which does not exist, and won't exist for some time, given GOP gerrymandering and the current political tendencies of American voters.
Why no third party run? He promised not to because he knows it would allow Trump to be elected and Trump will not only do direct damage to the nation but would counter the progression of Bernie's "revolution," and influence the American citizenry in highly counterproductive ways.
So what will he likely do? He will almost certainly reach an agreement with Hillary on terms that allow him to continue to promote his progressive politics. He will try to set the agenda through the platform, influence Clinton's policies and choice of advisers but much more importantly, he will try to do something analogous to what Goldwater, who was utterly defeated by LBJ in 1964, did for the GOP in creating a conservative revolution: Bernie will try to move the Democratic party toward more progressive politics from the inside by engaging energized citizens to participate, to run for office and to change the national dialogue. He will likely push for control of the DNC, but even falling short of that he will likely organize his supporters into a progressive movement to reform the Democratic Party from within, because as an outsider he knows full well the futility of third parties in American politics. He will also use his newfound national prominence to promote progressive causes in the Senate in a way that was impossible before this election.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)SirBrockington
(259 posts)If he concedes the media will move on like it did with Harold Dean, John Edwards, Martin O'Malley and the rest.
MADem
(135,425 posts)The media may have moved on, but Howard--not Harold--stayed in the game.
SirBrockington
(259 posts)Yes, the media did move on.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Having a crew of fawning press shouldn't be a goal. I am not suggesting that it is, either--I just think that's a bit shallow a purpose.
If Sanders wants to prosecute an agenda, he'll do that. He needs to fish or cut bait, though. Soon. Time is running out and the window is closing.
The only thing worse for him than losing that entourage at the end of a well-fought battle is losing them because they begin to marginalize him and categorize him in ways that aren't helpful to his goals.
onecaliberal
(32,894 posts)SirBrockington
(259 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)Bleacher Creature
(11,257 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)It's good to see that what's been dreamed is beginning to be put in motion.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)And get moving on his agenda.