The heat and fire of the 2016 primary season came from the almost interchangable grass-roots support for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump — the angry cry of those who feel that the deck is totally stacked in favor of the corrupt elite. Hillary Clinton climbed aboard that train and obviously rode it to great success, but she didn’t tap into that primal connection that people felt for Bernie and Donald — not really.
And I just don’t see how she can run her general election campaign without stating emphatically and convincingly that the wave that propelled Bernie to so many wins (anger against an impossibly rigged system) will be an essential component in her approach to steering the country over the next four to eight years. And by this I mean she has to make Elizabeth Warren her vp — there’s really no other way.
Because Warren is the only eloquent, well-known firebrand who’s 110% invested in the Sanders message, and who arguably expresses her convictions and outrage with more persuasion than Bernie ever did. She’s the only 1% buster who matters, who not only embraces but embodies what the whole ’16 primary season was largely about.
If and when Clinton doesn’t pick Warren, Clinton would effectively be saying the following: “Look, I realize a lot of you felt very strongly about what Bernie has been saying over the last year or so, and I even understand the anger and frustration behind the rural dumbshit support for Trump, but all you centrist and left-of-center types are going to have to set that shit aside now. Just put that fire-and-brimstone stuff back in the box because I’m running the show. I’m a practical-minded, persistent, methodical legislator and I’m going to choose a nice, safe, middle-aged male Senator or Governor who won’t alienate older white-guy voters….sorry but that’s how it is. What are you going to do, vote for Trump? I had to parrot many of Bernie’s viewpoints during the primaries, but I don’t have to now.”
This, to me, will be intolerable. Infuriating! I won’t be the only one who will feel this way.
