Olive Branch: Sanders Gets To Name Some Members Of Platform Committee

Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stand together before the start of the Univision, Washington Post Democratic presidential debate at Miami-Dade College, Wednesday, ... Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stand together before the start of the Univision, Washington Post Democratic presidential debate at Miami-Dade College, Wednesday, March 9, 2016, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) MORE LESS
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In a sign of Democratic unification, the Democratic National Committee has announced that in a break with past practice both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will appoint some representatives to the party’s 15-member platform committee.

The platform is considered a symbolic document, but after a tumultuous primary, Sanders and Clinton both getting to appoint their own representatives sends a signal to their supporters that both candidates’ views will be represented within the party ahead of the general election. The Washington Post called the new arrangement “highly unusual.” Typically, the chairman of the DNC would get to appoint the entirety of the committee.

Under the new arrangement, the Washington Post reported Monday, Clinton will appoint six representatives to the platform committee while Sanders will appoint five.

The Post reported that Clinton has selected president of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) who has worked extensively on immigration reform in the House, Wendy Sherman, who worked with Clinton at the Department of State, Carol Browner, an environmentalist who worked in the Obama administration, Ohio lawmaker Alicia Reece, and Paul Booth who is the executive assistant to the president at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union

The paper also reported that Sanders picked James Zogby, the president of the Arab-American Institute in Washington and a well-known advocate for Palestinian issues, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), one of two Muslim members of Congress, Dr. Cornel West, an academic and an activist for racial equality, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben and Deborah Parker, an advocate for the Native American community.

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz named Rep. Elijah Cummings, who served as the the ranking member in the select committee on Benghazi, to be the chairman. She also selected former CEO Bonnie Schaefer, one-time Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) and current Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to serve.

The joint platform could help win over some Sanders supporters and voters who have alleged that their voices are not being heard in the Democratic primary.

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Notable Replies

  1. He’s sounding more and more every day like a crusty old fart - whatever a crusty old fart sounds like.

  2. Bernie Bros complain, "If he doesn’t get to name all of the members, this vote is ‘rigged’ " in 5, 4, 3, 2…

  3. What’s Sanders giving in return? Nothing, you say? That’s hardly fair and democratic (or Democratic), is it?

  4. And where’s the quid pro quo for the democratic party?

    Remember the first few seasons of The Walking Dead when the zombies were still considerably dangerous? But then, as time went on, they became less of a threat and more of a nuisance. Easily vanquished in small numbers, but still ambling about moaning and whining and getting in the way. The zombie threat was replaced by the threat of menacing humans: the Governor, the Wolves, and now Negan and the Saviors.

    This is the Sanders’ campaign as it blindly stumbles into the flaming pond of gasoline. Bernie’s walkers represent a threat, but they are relatively easily dispatched (less than 25% of them say they would not vote for Hillary), but having to deal with them means that you can’t focus completely on the real bad guys; Donald Trump and the Republican Party. And so the democratic party must distract the Sanders’ biters to keep them out of the way while fighting the real enemy.

    Makes things more difficult, but in the end, just as Rick and his crew work together to pull victory from the jaws of defeat despite the zombie hoardes, the democratic party will do the same.

  5. Under the new arrangement, the Washington Post reported Monday, Clinton
    will appoint six representatives to the platform committee while Sanders
    will appoint five.

    That’s eleven. I’m sure that in appointing the remaining four members, Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be fully fair and impartial, without showing preference or bias to either candidate.

    Snark aside, though, this is a good move by the DNC. Sanders has earned a seat at the table for 2016.

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