Joe Biden's Campaign Keeps Being Celebrated For Its 'Resilience,' But What About Bernie Sanders?

[Uncle Joe]

For several months now, there has been an endless discourse in our political coverage tied around the alleged resilience of Joe Biden’s campaign. However, that same courtesy has curiously not been extended to Bernie Sanders, who throughout the entire campaign, has not only maintained top tier status but has seen his numbers rise in more recent polling. I chuckled at the recent Fox News digital headline “Bernie Sanders snubbed on separate graphics by CNN, CBS News” given the source, nevertheless, it speaks to a concern professed by the Sanders campaign itself as early as November that their campaign is being snubbed.

While the extent of the #BernieBlackout will remain up for debate, I will say when a new California state poll shows Bernie Sanders leading the field, perhaps include him in the headline and not Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden as the Los Angeles Times‘ recently did in their original headline on the survey. Likewise, I’ve seen numerous stories dooming the Sanders campaign in recent months, but not so many about more recent successes. Say what you will about Bernie Sanders (I surely have in years past), but the man has done pretty well thus far – after a heart attack, no less – but the coverage hasn’t consistently reflected that.

Bernie remains a fundraising juggernaut, continues to attract sizable crowds at his events, recently secured the endorsements of three of some of the most visible progressive congresswomen in America, and again, is seeing a rise in several new polls. I don’t write this to sound like some sort of stan, but make no mistake, if Pete Buttigieg enjoyed such huge support from young and Latinx voters the way Sanders does, his media fan club would turn up the volume on their Vanilla Latte Obama projections about him. And if the cash-strapped Biden campaign were pulling in Bernie’s campaign donations, we would never hear the end of it.

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Donald Trump is a demagogue with an entertainer’s delivery and a cable channel at his disposable up against entities in media, tech, and politics that are still ill-equipped to tackle him and his tactics. It is my belief that Democrats have to nominate someone who can inspire rather than merely try to placate. Perhaps Joe Biden can become that candidate, but as it stands now, he’s not raising a lot of money, he’s taking shots at younger politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and he continues to occasionally bewilder when engaging in public speaking (that’s actually his most resilient quality, to be fair).

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https://www.essence.com/op-ed/bernie-sanders-resillence/