Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Tuesday that he didn’t think Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) can win the Democratic presidential nomination, the Associated Press reported.
During his weekly press conference, Reid said Sanders was a good person who “has run a campaign that I think we’ve all recognized has been unique and powerful, and I think Bernie should do what he wants to do,” according to the AP.
When reporters asked him to definitively say whether he thought Sanders could win the nomination, he responded, “No, I do not.”
Reid endorsed Sanders’ rival, Hillary Clinton, following his state’s caucuses.
Does this mean the Democratic establishment is coalescing around Hillary more publicly…and telling Bernie, nicely, to go away?
I think it’s just Harry being the straight shooter that he is.
Now that Harry can see Bernie with depth perception, he looks pretty far away from the nomination.
(Oops, my bad. I thought Reid had recovered, but I guess he never did get sight back in that eye. Bernie must look even worse than I thought.)
That has been happening for some time, I think someone asked Reid a question, and he gave a diplomatic but clear answer. He didn’t ask Bernie to get out of the race, but he did note what pretty much everyone outside the Sanders campaign admits, which is that winning the delegate race is nearly impossible at this point.
But ultimately what Reid and other smart party leaders will want is not for Bernie and his supporters to “go away” but to draw closer, to engage, and to be part of the team in November and beyond.
I’m sure Bernie bros will respond in their usual calm, rational, not at all whiny or sanctimonious way.