While Sen. Bernie Sanders may have said some moderately annoying things lately about it not being his job to deliver his supporters to Hillary Clinton, should she be the nominee, it is in fact precisely his job. He knows that and is now coming around to saying things that make it clear he understands what is at stake.
Exhibit A: Comments to MSNBC yesterday.
I will do everything I can, and I think Hillary Clinton and I agree on this, that we will do everything we can to make sure that a Republican does not win the White House. I will knock my brains out, I will work seven days a week to make sure that that does not happen if I am the nominee and if I am not the nominee.
Though Sanders’ supporters may say that such a statement diminishes his negotiating position with Mrs. Clinton and the Democratic Party, it does not.
He had earned the right to, for example, play a prominent role at the convention. He will and should have something to say about how Mrs. Clinton campaigns, as he already has. He will, no doubt, effectively weigh in on the party platform.
Sen. Sanders is now a force in the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton and the party leadership will want to make him as happy as is consistent with effectively waging a general election campaign. His enthusiastic support will be invaluable.
If we take him at his word, what he wants is the best shot at ensuring a Democrat sits in the White House again. Although there will inevitably be some disagreement about how this can best be achieved, I am confident that Sen. Sanders will be a team player and that Mrs. Clinton will respectfully welcome his participation.
As for how Sen. Sanders can help the Democratic cause, it will be in encouraging his supporters that he and Hillary Clinton disagree mostly on the speed with which change can be achieved, but do not disagree about the basic direction, especially considering the GOP alternative.
He needs to address the more noxious commentary among his supporters that Clinton is running a sort of false flag candidacy, that she is the enemy. She is not.
Creating an atmosphere in which his supporters, many of whom are participating in the political process for the first time, don’t decide that it is nobler to simply stay home on Election Day, will be essential.
He and his team may have said, may still be saying, things about Mrs. Clinton that cannot be easily unsaid. Passions run high in campaigns. That’s the way it goes, and others have pointed out that this has hardly been the most contentious campaign that would have to morph into a display of solidarity.
This is one more reason that politics is like few other endeavours in life. My enemy yesterday is my best friend today.
Bernie Sanders has changed the Democratic Party. He has changed Hillary Clinton.
The challenge, which Sen. Sanders will surely be up to, is to find a language that enables him to frame Clinton as an ally, though perhaps an overly cautious one.
The challenge for Clinton will be to acknowledge more passionately that Sen. Sanders is right on a range of issues, and then to pivot somewhat to talk about achieving many of these goals in a way that is not so stodgy, bloodless, and bureaucratic.
Yes, it can be dangerous to over-promise in politics, but politics hardly deserves the name without some over-promising.
In a battle between idealism and pragmatism, she has clearly won the day, if barely. If she makes an attempt to meet him part of the way, to acknowledge that she has learned something from him, that we should also talk about the nearly impossible because it is right and it is galvanizing, she might make his job of energizing his supporters a little easier.
If both sides are smart about this, something good could happen.