As Democrats we often disagree over candidates, issues, and policy solutions. But we must work through our differences and keep our eyes on the prize: electing Democrats to the White House, Congress, and our state and local governments. (More)
Last week I wrote in Morning Feature Who are the real DINOs? that I was frustrated and concerned by balkanization in the Democratic Party between Bernie and Hillary supporters. I showed a series of text messages from a hard core Bernie supporter that showed an unwillingness to support the Democratic ticket if it wasn’t Bernie. These passions on both sides are real.
They have been, in a way, festering for quite a while. Late last year I attended a leadership meeting with my local party affiliate in which tensions quickly rose when it came out who some people supported for the candidacy. Sides quickly formed, and the emotion in the room rose. That friction was so intense that I thought there’d be shouting.
I expressed then the same concerns that I wrote about last week, that this division could cost us dearly in the general election, and the prize was what mattered. I have had to defend myself to my fellow Democrats who looked at me and demanded to know my position. I answered then as I said last week: “I support whichever Democrat gets the nomination.”
But the tension is real, and I worry that it is getting heightened, because others have also expressed to me their feelings, and the attitudes I discussed last week are only intensifying. I don’t know what can be done to bring healing to the party when the decision is made, because there’s going to be a side that feels it’s lost. Either way, there will be hard feelings.
We have to get past those feelings and unite, or we lose the prize. Perhaps now is the time to begin that healing? Before the outcome is known? If the candidates themselves feel the need to continue differentiating themselves on whichever point they can because they each want the nomination, they themselves aren’t in a position to lead that unity. Not yet.
So it falls to us to begin that process. Now.
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Photo Credit: AP
Hey everyone, sorry I’m beating a horse here, but I really worry that the party could hurt itself with this division. I know most of us get the big picture, but there are still folks out there who are going to not vote if the other side wins.
My contribution is probably little better than spitting in a hurricane.
And comments like this from H A Goodman of the Cleveland Plain Dealer only add fuel to the fire
“If Clinton survives the FBI and Bernie’s momentum, don’t expect party
unity to rally all Democrats if Hillary Clinton gets the nomination. The
outdated poll showing 33% of Bernie Sanders supporters never voting for Clinton might actually be a greater number. I state the case in this YouTube segment for writing-in Bernie Sanders is Clinton is the nominee. ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/sanders-become-democratic-nominee-even-if-clinton-leads-in-delegates_b_9657952.html
For the record, Goodman was a Rand Paul supporter before he began to Bern the Feels. He says he’s a “liberal Democrat,” but we have only his word for that. Like the Obama-haters at DailyKos who always began their posts “I maxed out my donations to Obama, BUT” … I think Goodman is a provocateur.
Thank you for that Crissie. It’s easy to get caught up in the messaging and forget to look at the messenger. Then again, that’s precisely while political discourse is so hard. I could have been reading the words of a Cato troll and wouldn’t know it unless i dug into the source. It’d be nice if everyone had to declare themselves from the outset. But that’s not happening.
Your thoughts are excellent ones. What a pity if we lose the general because Democrats won’t vote for the other Democrat. Awkward way of saying it, but it’s important. We need a Democrat to win. We need Democrats at every level.
There is too much at stake here to allow the party to divide of what are really minor differences of opinion.
I will work for either candidate. I will vote for either candidate. After the primary, my personal preference will take a hike in favor of electing a Democrat. Period.
Perhaps we all as Democrats taking a bit too much joy from the GOP mess and not tending our own garden. I’m with you 100%. Either Democrat is better than any Republican. We all have too much to lose.
I don’t think the people who say they won’t vote for whoever wins the nomination. represent most of the democratic party. These are the same people that voted for Nader, Ron Paul, and were disappointed in President Obama almost as soon as he got elected, because they didn’t like who he nominated for his cabinet. They never will be happy, because they want purity. Our system was designed for compromise.
Amen to that, Terri. Well said!
Thank you Terri. I hope you are right. When I read comment threads or wander to so-called “progressive” YouTube sites like The Young Turks, I can easily get the impression that people are highly finicky, and too focused on purity versus pragmatism. The Young Turks seriously aggravate me because Obama can do no right, Hillary can do no right, and Bernie is the only option. They have millions of subscribers and doubtless many are persuaded by these attitudes.
Again, I’m not saying Bernie is a bad guy, but if even Obama, who has fought so hard for us can’t do right, what hope do we have with any of them? Suppose Bernie is elected? How long until they turn on Bernie, because inevitably, he he has to govern from a pragmatic standpoint versus ideology?
I think a lot of these progressive sites like The Young Turks, that are really pushing Bernie were foundered by former republicans. I’m not talking about people that support Bernie over Hillary, but the one’s that have been overly vicious in their attacks on Hillary.
You can count on them turning on Bernie, if he’s elected. At some point you have to compromise.