TPM Reader MM responds to my piece yesterday on the DNC’s apparent christening of Bernie Sanders as Hillary’s official opposition …
The big DNC hug for Bernie is interesting. I think there’s more to it than simply everyone knowing how the story ends.
Hillary needs the Warren Wing of the party (for lack of a better term) to convincingly defeat her GOP opponent, whoever that may be. Bernie is many things, not least of all tetchy. Treat Bernie like he’s a nobody, ignore him, much less talk him down, you will piss him off and he will definitely respond by getting his small but devoted band of followers (approximately a proper subset of the Warrenites, though not precisely) pissed at Hillary and at the party. Election Day rolls around, and many of them just might have pressing commitments that are not convenient to their polling place.
Keep him and them mollified, yet realistic about the attractor state of the process (complex-systems-speak for ‘inevitable outcome’), and we’re one big happy party to some level of approximation.
Note also that Hillary’s theme for right now is “Listen and Learn”. Somewhere down the pike, when he’s been able to say his piece and the writing is even more plainly on the wall, perhaps there will be a meeting between her and Bernie. I’d bet he might propose candidates for a second-tier Cabinet appointment or two, and/or a couple of high-visibility agency heads, as well as a campaign plank.
If Hillary is still in listen-and-learn mode he might just get some of that, and in return deliver the Warren Wing to the presumptive candidate. The DNC is making a smart move, and that’s an encouraging sign.
TPM Reader TW makes a complementary point …
I was interested in your post on Bernie Sanders’s semi-official status as challenger to Hillary, as I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday. I think Bernie is an almost perfect foil for Hillary at this point, and I expect her people and those at the DNC share that view. He’s a smart, articulate, direct, proponent for an openly liberal approach to national governance. He will push her hard on the issues, especially economic justice and what he calls the “grotesque” level of current income inequality, but he won’t play political games or spend one minute spinning the horserace or leaking damaging stories. He’ll be an effective advocate for a core Democratic political vision articulated from the left, which they will discuss and debate. She’ll position herself somewhat to his right, which will help for the general election, but she can publicly agree with him quite a bit, which the Democratic voters will like. The only real downside risk is that Bernie could catch on with a big enough chunk of the primary electorate, who may respond to his authenticity and commitment, that he could take some big states and wound her. But, as you point out, that seems unlikely. The nomination doesn’t really seem in doubt, and it will be good for Hillary to have a contest on the way.
Meanwhile, the contrast between the two parties’ races will work to her advantage. The numerous Republican candidates will pander and posture for that last remaining fraction of the hard right, edging desperately further and further out to the fringe and pledging to be more bellicose abroad and more ruthless in enforcing abortion restrictions and taking away people’s health insurance, while Hillary and Bernie (and Gov. O’Malley, no policy slouch either) have a substantive debate over things like the minimum wage, paid time off, repairing our roads and bridges, and how to bring back good middle class jobs — issues that matter to most voters.
After a few months of this, many voters will start to realize that they are actually Democrats — and that they’d better get out and vote this time.
