Let me get my biases out of the way first. I was an Amy Klobuchar supporter from way back who now has switched allegiance to Joe Biden. For a whole host of reasons I won’t bother to enumerate, I really, really,really dislike Bernie Sanders.
For personal and political reasons, I’d like to see Bernie drop out and clear the way for a united front behind Biden, giving the party time to heal before the convention and what promises to be a fall campaign that will be unmatched in modern times for slime, invective, lies, bile and shamelessness promulgated by our so-called president.
So you’d think I’d be arguing that Bernie should just give up and go home, already. However, as much as I might like that, if I were a Bernie adviser or supporter, I’d advise just the opposite — for now.
We’re all writing Bernie’s political obituary now, and seem to have forgotten that a week ago were we writing funeral elegies for Joe Biden and his dreams of becoming president. If you’re looking for proof that “anything can happen,” look no further than last Saturday, five whole days ago.
Indeed, in some respects, Bernie is in a better position now than he was in 2016, At the end of Super Tuesday in 2016, Hillary was up over by Bernie by some 200 delegates; Biden will wind up with a lead of 50-60 when Tuesday’s results are finally sorted out.
It’s not unreasonable for Bernie’s people to say, “Hey, that’s not a lot of ground to make up.” If I’m a Bernie voter and committed to the cause, I’d see some hope there. Anything canhappen. God only knows what gaffe (or so-called “gaffe”) Biden may make tomorrow. If things were to start going Bernie’s way, the lost ground could be made up quickly.
By no means is that likely. For one thing, the biggest electoral pot of all, California, is behind us now, while in 2016 it was still ahead (the state’s primary wasn't until June). With some exceptions, like Washington State, where I live, the states ahead (e.g., Florida) are arguably less favorable for Bernie than those that voted on Super Tuesday. It is hard to see where he is going to make up that delegate shortage.
Still, it’s only 50-60 delegates (not counting those belonging to Mayor Pete, Amy, et al). If you’re a Bernie supporter, there’s still hope, so why throw in the towel now?
What I would argue strenuously is that if Bernie does fall short in the next several weeks, then he should give it up and not drag this contest out until June, as he did in 2016, and as he suggested yesterday by talking about his campaign “in the months ahead.” It will be clear in the next few weeks whether Bernie has any chance of turning his campaign around enough to give him a chance of winning the nomination. (We all know who superdelegates will vote for if it comes to that.) If it becomes clear he doesn’t have a chance, Bernie’s advisers and supporters will need to persuade him to stand down so we can start putting our divisions behind up to focus our complete attention on the reprobate occupying the White House.