Wednesday 4 March 2020

Who is prepared to sacrifice a dream among the Democratic candidates?

Out of the surviving Democratic presidential candidates which, if any of them, are NeverTrumpers first and "I wanna be president" second? Jonathan Friedman, a wise old (well, middled-aged) political commentator for The New York Times, suggests today that all the top grandees of the party, like Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Senator Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader in the Senate, should get together in a room and work out which candidate could beat Trump and then go out and make sure somehow that their chosen candidate gets the nomination and all the rest fall on their swords. Or words to that effect. Well, it sounds sensible but of course it is never going to happen. No one is going to fall on his or her sword unless or until the state primaries dictate otherwise. A hopeless performance at the polls and/or a drying-up of donations will soon drive the message home that his or her campaign is over. But really we're talking here about Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden who, after Super Tuesday are streets ahead of their rivals both in state victories and delegates for the July Democratic National Convention. So would Bernie or Joe, for the good of the party, call it quits and rally round the Chosen One? No no no way! Both have invested too much to surrender now and wouldn ot take kindly to any moves by Pelosi and co try to persuade either of them to step down. And, anyway, if there were ever to be a darkened room with the grandees plotting the nomination, it's pretty obvious who they would come out and anoint: one Joe Biden. Sanders who has done so well so far - and snatching California is his greatest achievement - is not going to let Biden just carry the trophy to the July convention. It would be the greatest betrayal for him and his supporters since, well, since the great betrayal in the 2016 race with Hillary Clinton when plottings against him and his perceived wild socialism undermined his campaign. Fatally. So Bernie is going to stand and fight all the way. If he had done badly on Super Tuesday that would be a different matter. As for Joe Biden, he would never think of making way for Sanders. Why on earth would he? He has suddenly seized momentum and must actually believe that he could/maybe/possiby/oh my God end up in the White House as president. His first priority, and Bernie's first priority, is to win the nomination and go on from there. Then it will be all about beating Trump and ousting him after his four years in office. All the candidates at some point have said that it's vital to get rid of Trump for the sake of the country, but after the failure of the impeachment trial, that message seems to have died down a bit. Now it's all about the fight between Bernie and Joe. So if Pelosi has any plotting in mind it would be wise to keep it to herself. Any hint of subterfuge against Bernie would be catastrophic for the Democratic Party and would do no good to Joe either. It has to be a fair fight. So, sorry Mr Friedman, your idea is fun but is out of the question and, frankly, treacherous!

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