Building Bridges or Burning Them...
As the primary race develops, we all see trends and developments. All of us here on DU are intent on observing the course of the Democratic primary. Realistically, we all know that we don't represent the makeup of primary voters very well on this forum. What we discuss here has little to do with how the polls look or the odds of one or another candidate becoming the nominee. We're just too small a collective group to have any real effect on the primary race.
In the end, some of us will be pleased and others disappointed. That happens in every primary race for President. It happened in 2008, too. Eventually, the decision gets made, based on primary elections, caucuses and the events at the Democratic Convention. Then, we move into general election mode.
The primary campaigns of each candidate work to shift the conversation in different directions and candidates often adjust their messages during the campaign. At the debates, we hear a lot of "I agree with candidate {name} on this, but have a different approach to the issue" or words to that effect.
Eventually, the candidates who do not prevail in the race for the nomination will graciously concede to the winner and offer their endorsements and support, wholeheartedly or halfheartedly. They will be able to do that because they have not been burning down the bridges between their positions. Rather, they have been working on building bridges to a road leading into the future. After the Convention, or perhaps even before that, who the nominee will be will become crystal clear. Those bridges will allow all of the contenders to work toward the common goal of electing a Democrat as President.
My opinion is that we should all probably be doing much the same thing in out discussions as the candidates are doing - expressing our differences in support of our favorite, but avoiding burning the bridges that connect us all to a single overriding goal. That's my opinion, and I know many will not share it, but the need for bridges is always there. The ones we burn will just end up having to be rebuilt. That takes time and is very costly.
Those are my Monday ramblings. Now, I have to go to work so I can pay bills. I'll check in from time to time on breaks.
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