The Judgment of Solomon
As a party, or at least as people who talk about politics online, we keep going around and around on the same terms. When we vote, what are we voting for? A candidate? A dream? A program? A party? The future? The lesser of two evils? Because Bernie and his fans are still arguing over this and refusing to concede and throw their votes to the presumptive nominee, we have to argue it too. We find ourselves drawn back, again and again, to what I think are really stupid assertions about Bernie--that he is authentic, that he came from behind, that he is unique because he's an avowed atheist and socialist, that he excites younger voters, that he draws some independents, that a bird landed on his podium. I would submit that none of that matters. In fact, it matters so little I'm going to throw out paragraphs discussing it. Because what kind of a candidate Bernie was, and what his voters thought about him, is utterly irrelevant at this point. Bernie has only one choice about this campaign left--how does he leave it? With honor, or with shame? With generosity, as a team player, or as a crabbed, pinched, old man. Embracing the country, including the millions of people who voted for Hillary Clinton over himself, or rejecting those voters, specifically women and AA voters, as unimportant?
It all boils down to this and only this: there is only one race for the Presidency of one country, and Hillary Clinton is going to be the Nominee and she is going to fight the battle against Donald Trump. Bernie has only one choice in this election, just as his supporters have only one choice. And it is basically this:
Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.
19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
--which of these two women is most like your candidate? Which candidate is willing, and has shown herself willing in the past, to put aside her interests (and her supporter's hopes) and throw herself 100 percent behind the nominee of the party, to win the election for the good of the country? The fact that Bernie has still not publicly conceded and backed the presumptive nominee tells you all you need to know. The fact that he is still bargaining for what he thinks of as goodies while the rest of the country is gearing up to fight the battle tells you all that you need to know. Bernie is incapable of renouncing anything, even something as absurdly beside the point as his new found obsession for open primaries, for the good of the country. This is exactly why he lost and why, over time, his influence will be negligible. Because people can see, for themselves, that in a time of national crisis, when faced with the horrors of a potential Trump administration, he chose his own ego and the adulation of his fans.
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