‘We all know this has been a tough fight, but the Democratic Party is family. And now, it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together.”
Those words were spoken by Hillary Clinton on June 7, 2008, when it became clear that Barack Obama would be the party’s nominee for president.
On Tuesday night, eight years to the day later, Clinton should have heard similar words spoken by Bernie Sanders. But that’s not what happened. Instead, the Vermont senator took to the stage in Santa Monica, Calif., and said: “I am pretty good in arithmetic, and I know the fight in front of us is a very steep fight. But we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate.”
A few minutes later, he told supporters that he congratulated Clinton on her victories in California, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota, a subdued announcement that was met with boos and hisses from the crowd. So much for recognizing one of the most historic nights in the history of women’s equality and American politics.
For Sanders and his supporters, Clinton hasn’t won anything – or not legitimately. She is merely the beneficiary of a rigged system in which superdelegates anointed her the nominee long before voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots.
Never mind that Clinton has 2,191 pledged delegates to Sanders’s 1,816. Never mind that she has a more than 3.7 million lead in the popular vote. Never mind that Sanders knew full well what the party rules were when he entered the contest, and that Clinton would have a significant advantage in superdelegates because she is, unlike Sanders, actually a Democrat.
Truth and pragmatism were no match for the Sanders juggernaut on Tuesday night, however; it isn’t the first revolution to lose sight of the beauty and altruism of its roots.
Much of what Sanders stands for is the heart and soul of this country’s progressive movement. The left has always played an important role in giving a voice to the voiceless and speaking truth to power. Sanders used his dedication to that vision to motivate voters young and old to fight against corruption and oppression. The party and the country are better off because of it, because of him.
But somewhere along the way, Sanders and his supporters decided Hillary Clinton was the problem. So the tenor of the revolution changed. A progressive dream gilded by optimism was replaced by venom and blame. Another revolution corrupted by its own passion.
Soon, the very idea of the incremental change Clinton represents became not only unacceptable but abhorrent to Sanders’s supporters. The scrawled sign on the Bernie bandwagon now reads, “Utopia or bust.”
But if Sanders continues to battle for “every vote and every delegate” even while acknowledging the futility of the fight, the dream will devour itself and potentially clear the way for Donald Trump and his dystopian vision.
The pace of change in America can be maddeningly slow, and the price is often paid in blood and turmoil. Wounds run deep and fresh ones seem to open daily. But the march of progress is undeniable and continues to be this nation’s promise – a never-ending but imperfect fight against injustice and inequality. Who, 50 years ago, would dare dream of a black president? Who, 100 years ago, could imagine a woman as the presidential nominee of a major political party? These are the great moments that arise from tireless fights.
Bernie Sanders has planted the seeds of a revolution and given a booming voice to progressive ideals. But now it’s time for him to come home.
The passion he has sown, the frustration he has unearthed, will bear fruit in elections and public policy debates for years to come – and that will be his legacy.
Now, he must allow Hillary Clinton hers: the first woman president of the United States.