Let me start by getting this out of the way: I am not, for various reasons I won’t bother to go into in this diary, feeling the Bern. And to be honest I have not contributed much to this community lately because it has felt sort of hostile to anyone not fully committed to seeing Bernie Sanders elected President. (Yes I know there are still quite a few HRC supporters here—fighting their version of the good fight—but face it the overall tenor of the site lately has been anti-Clinton.)
So that out of the way: tonight I just want to say to everyone who is “Feeling the Bern”, congratulations on winning the New Hampshire primary. Looks like a huge victory. And especially to the people in the New Hampshire office, who clearly worked their butts off to achieve tonight’s result. You owned it, and well done.
I have always believed that the biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats, and the biggest reason I feel loyal to the Democratic Party, in good times and bad, is not so much what they do but the way they do it. And the way we do things is from the ground up, with a lot of noise and argument and passion, lots of individuals expressing themselves, which suits me fine even when it kind of pisses me off. And I can think of nothing that better represents this spirit than the Sanders campaign taking on the Clinton campaign.
What worries me most about the upcoming election is that Democrats will return to their bad habit of staying home on election day. I worry that eight years of a Democrat in the White House has allowed us to forget just how bad Republican governance can be. This is not an election we can afford to lose; should the GOP come into power they will tear down every little thing that’s been accomplished over the last 8 years, and then keep tearing.
And frankly, the overall numbers of caucus goers in Iowa, irrespective of the candidate, did not give me much confidence. But when I hear about the record voting going on today in New Hampshire it gives me greater hope.
Though I’m not supporting Sanders, I respect him and will certainly support him should he win; more importantly, I believe that a tough nomination fight can only be good for the Party, and for our prospects in November. It gives our candidates an idea of what to expect in the general, and an opportunity to hone their tactics. It also keeps the race from being a bore. No one wants to see a “coronation”. Coronations breed complacency, and we can ill afford that. I certainly want whoever our nominee is to have earned that privilege. Because however tough this nomination fight becomes, the general election will be tougher and more brutal. We will need everyone to pull together behind whichever candidate has proven themselves the better campaigner.
So congratulations, Team Sanders. On to the next contest, good luck to all, and may the better candidate win!