Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Bernie Sanders Is Not Going to Be President of the United States-He
Should Keep Running Anyway
________________________________________
Bernie Sanders Is Not Going to Be President of the United States-He Should
Keep Running Anyway
By D.D. Guttenplan [1] / The Nation [2]
April 20, 2016
Despite winning 49 New York counties to Hillary Clinton's 13 [3], and more
votes in the state than Donald Trump and John Kasich combined, Bernie
Sanders is not going to be the next president of the United States. For
those of us who really thought he might, his defeat here hits especially
hard. The temptation to abandon ourselves to recrimination and despair will
be strong. Yet it must be resisted.
For one thing, Sanders himself fights on, in Pennsylvania, Connecticut,
Oregon and California: states where he can continue to inspire a movement
and upend the "pragmatic incrementalism" that marks the limits of
conventional politics. It also makes no sense to walk away in the middle of
a debate that Sanders is winning on every issue, from a $15 minimum wage to
the disastrous legacy of pro-corporate trade deals, to the need for massive
reinvestment in our inner cities, to the rejection of a foreign policy
founded on regime change. Workers who have seen their jobs shipped overseas;
all those left behind by the Clinton-era boom, as well as the millions who
lost a home in the Bush recession or remain excluded from the skewed Obama
recovery-they still need a voice, and a champion, in this election.
I spent the day before the vote in Wyckoff Gardens, three crumbling
gray-brick towers in the heart of Brooklyn's Boerum Hill, built in the 1960s
and neglected for the past half-century. "People think we're all on
welfare," said resident Beverly Corbin. "People in public housing are
teachers, engineers, social workers, corrections officers. We are a
community!" I asked my guides-a half-dozen fiercely articulate
African-American women belonging to Families United for Racial and Economic
Equality [4]-how they were going to vote, and was surprised that a majority
said they were "feeling the Bern." Yet when Stephen Levin, the 34-year-old
city councilman whose office arranged my visit, revealed that he was backing
Clinton, there was no animosity.
"You were there for us after Hurricane Sandy," said Charlene Nimmons, the
former president of the tenants' association. "And we need you with us now."
She was speaking about their fight against a move by the city to turn a
parking lot at one end of the development into market-rate housing. For
these women, and millions like them, politics isn't a hobby, but rather a
fight for survival. And as he has shown on the streets of Brownsville and on
the picket line in Buffalo, there is no more courageous ally than Bernie
Sanders. Now is no time for him, or those inspired by his message, to leave
the field.
Yet while the struggle continues, the goal has changed. Winning the White
House was a thrilling dream. Winning power-durable power, the kind that
makes laws and holds elected officials to account-is a longer, more grueling
fight. That, however, is the task we face now. In the coming weeks, Sanders
and his supporters will need to make clear exactly what he's fighting for,
both inside the Democratic Party and beyond. As his campaign officials
rightly point out, Sanders's support keeps growing. He may well win more
states, and will arrive at the convention with enough delegates to push not
just for a progressive platform but for procedural changes [5]-such as an
end to superdelegates or a ban on PAC money in primaries-that could level
the playing field for the next generation of insurgents. He could also
demand the appointment of party officials less addicted to corporate cash.
In the meantime, he could direct a lot more of his attention and money to
candidates down the ticket who share his politics.
An inside strategy alone, though, will never deliver political revolution.
As Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party told me, "You can't occupy the
Democratic Party. The Democratic Party will end by occupying you."
The WFP model of fusion politics-using the opening created by New York's
election laws to build an independent power base by endorsing progressive
Democrats without playing a spoiler role-may not be the answer nationwide:
Thousands of WFP members worked hard for Sanders [6], but in New York's
closed primary, many of them couldn't vote for him. It's not a bad place to
start thinking, though, about how to heal the terrible racial fissure that
split progressives in what is arguably the most progressive state in the
country. We need to ask ourselves why a movement candidate in a movement
moment still fell short, and Sanders and his supporters need to be at the
center of that conversation, listening as well as leading.
Finally, the tone of the campaign needs to change-on both sides. Sanders
needs to keep fighting hard on the issues, and Clinton needs to pivot-not
away from Sanders supporters but toward them. She may gain the nomination by
defeating Sanders, but she won't win in November without embracing his
issues and convincing his supporters that she, too, feels the Bern.
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [7]
[8]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-not-going-be-president-
united-states-he-should-keep-running-anyway
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/dd-guttenplan
[2] http://www.thenation.com
[3]
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-york?hp&action=click&pg
type=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region
&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
[4] http://furee.org/
[5]
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/05/bernie_sanders_wants_a_con
tested_convention_for_democrats.html
[6]
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/bernie-sanders-has-secret-weapon
-new-york
[7] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Bernie Sanders Is Not
Going to Be President of the United States-He Should Keep Running Anyway
[8] http://www.alternet.org/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Bernie Sanders Is Not Going to Be President of the United States-He
Should Keep Running Anyway
Bernie Sanders Is Not Going to Be President of the United States-He Should
Keep Running Anyway
By D.D. Guttenplan [1] / The Nation [2]
April 20, 2016
Despite winning 49 New York counties to Hillary Clinton's 13 [3], and more
votes in the state than Donald Trump and John Kasich combined, Bernie
Sanders is not going to be the next president of the United States. For
those of us who really thought he might, his defeat here hits especially
hard. The temptation to abandon ourselves to recrimination and despair will
be strong. Yet it must be resisted.
For one thing, Sanders himself fights on, in Pennsylvania, Connecticut,
Oregon and California: states where he can continue to inspire a movement
and upend the "pragmatic incrementalism" that marks the limits of
conventional politics. It also makes no sense to walk away in the middle of
a debate that Sanders is winning on every issue, from a $15 minimum wage to
the disastrous legacy of pro-corporate trade deals, to the need for massive
reinvestment in our inner cities, to the rejection of a foreign policy
founded on regime change. Workers who have seen their jobs shipped overseas;
all those left behind by the Clinton-era boom, as well as the millions who
lost a home in the Bush recession or remain excluded from the skewed Obama
recovery-they still need a voice, and a champion, in this election.
I spent the day before the vote in Wyckoff Gardens, three crumbling
gray-brick towers in the heart of Brooklyn's Boerum Hill, built in the 1960s
and neglected for the past half-century. "People think we're all on
welfare," said resident Beverly Corbin. "People in public housing are
teachers, engineers, social workers, corrections officers. We are a
community!" I asked my guides-a half-dozen fiercely articulate
African-American women belonging to Families United for Racial and Economic
Equality [4]-how they were going to vote, and was surprised that a majority
said they were "feeling the Bern." Yet when Stephen Levin, the 34-year-old
city councilman whose office arranged my visit, revealed that he was backing
Clinton, there was no animosity.
"You were there for us after Hurricane Sandy," said Charlene Nimmons, the
former president of the tenants' association. "And we need you with us now."
She was speaking about their fight against a move by the city to turn a
parking lot at one end of the development into market-rate housing. For
these women, and millions like them, politics isn't a hobby, but rather a
fight for survival. And as he has shown on the streets of Brownsville and on
the picket line in Buffalo, there is no more courageous ally than Bernie
Sanders. Now is no time for him, or those inspired by his message, to leave
the field.
Yet while the struggle continues, the goal has changed. Winning the White
House was a thrilling dream. Winning power-durable power, the kind that
makes laws and holds elected officials to account-is a longer, more grueling
fight. That, however, is the task we face now. In the coming weeks, Sanders
and his supporters will need to make clear exactly what he's fighting for,
both inside the Democratic Party and beyond. As his campaign officials
rightly point out, Sanders's support keeps growing. He may well win more
states, and will arrive at the convention with enough delegates to push not
just for a progressive platform but for procedural changes [5]-such as an
end to superdelegates or a ban on PAC money in primaries-that could level
the playing field for the next generation of insurgents. He could also
demand the appointment of party officials less addicted to corporate cash.
In the meantime, he could direct a lot more of his attention and money to
candidates down the ticket who share his politics.
An inside strategy alone, though, will never deliver political revolution.
As Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party told me, "You can't occupy the
Democratic Party. The Democratic Party will end by occupying you."
The WFP model of fusion politics-using the opening created by New York's
election laws to build an independent power base by endorsing progressive
Democrats without playing a spoiler role-may not be the answer nationwide:
Thousands of WFP members worked hard for Sanders [6], but in New York's
closed primary, many of them couldn't vote for him. It's not a bad place to
start thinking, though, about how to heal the terrible racial fissure that
split progressives in what is arguably the most progressive state in the
country. We need to ask ourselves why a movement candidate in a movement
moment still fell short, and Sanders and his supporters need to be at the
center of that conversation, listening as well as leading.
Finally, the tone of the campaign needs to change-on both sides. Sanders
needs to keep fighting hard on the issues, and Clinton needs to pivot-not
away from Sanders supporters but toward them. She may gain the nomination by
defeating Sanders, but she won't win in November without embracing his
issues and convincing his supporters that she, too, feels the Bern.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [7]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[8]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-not-going-be-president-
united-states-he-should-keep-running-anyway
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/dd-guttenplan
[2] http://www.thenation.com
[3]
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-york?hp&action=click&pg
type=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region
&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
[4] http://furee.org/
[5]
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/05/bernie_sanders_wants_a_con
tested_convention_for_democrats.html
[6]
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/bernie-sanders-has-secret-weapon
-new-york
[7] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Bernie Sanders Is Not
Going to Be President of the United States-He Should Keep Running Anyway
[8] http://www.alternet.org/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
