The Democratic Party Surrenders to Nostalgia
By Bill BlumMarch 12, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - Now that the Michigan
Democratic primary is over and Joe Biden has been
declared the
winner, it’s time to read the handwriting on the
political wall: Biden will be the Democratic nominee
for president, and Bernie Sanders will be the
runner-up once again come the party’s convention in
July. Sanders might influence the party’s platform,
but platforms are never binding for the nominee.
Sanders has lost, and so have his many progressive
supporters, myself included.
I am nothing if not a realist. The idea that
Sanders might have become the Democratic candidate
was always a fantasy, not unlike my youthful dreams
of one day becoming an NFL quarterback. Even after
Sanders’ triumph in the Nevada caucuses, I never
thought the party establishment would ever allow a
socialist — even a mild social democratic one, such
as Sanders — to head its ticket.
Funded by wealthy donors, run by Beltway insiders
and aided and abetted by a corporate media dedicated
to promoting the notion that Sanders was “unelectable,”
the Democratic Party never welcomed Sanders as a
legitimate contender. Not in 2016 and not in 2020.
In several instances, it even resorted to some good
old-fashioned
red-baiting to frighten voters; the party is,
after all, a capitalist institution. Working and
middle-class families support the Democrats largely
because they have no other place to go on Election
Day besides the completely corrupt and craven GOP.
Now we are left with Donald Trump and Biden to
duke it out in the fall. Yes, it has come to that.