Although Bernie Sanders previously acknowledged that the pledged delegate count should be the measure to select a nominee, he pledges to “continue the fight” although he cannot surpass Hillary Clinton who leads by three million votes with an insurmountable lead of 1,812 “pledged” delegates and the “magic” number of 2,383 delegates when her 573 superdelegates are counted. What’s the story, Bernie?
He lambasted the use of and the idea of superdelegates throughout the contest. However, after he lost in California, New Mexico and Puerto Rico and Hillary Clinton had enough delegates to be the “presumptive” Democratic nominee, Bernie did the math and he knew it was over. So he moved on to a fantasy that the superdelegates will switch their support to him although there is no historical basis for the idea. Now that superdelegates are his only chance of success, he would shamelessly use them so long as they gave his campaign a chance since he believes he is still the best candidate to take on Donald Trump in November.
A spokesperson said, “Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump.” If superdelegates are so undemocratic, how can he solicit them to switch their support? A strong Democratic Party is needed to defeat Trump, which makes his position hard to understand. How could he ever lead America if he cannot compromise at all and join forces to defeat Donald Trump, the true enemy of the American people?
Donald Trump, completely comfortable with absurdity, has issued a call for Sanders supporters to join his campaign. They need to decide whether to give their support to Hillary Clinton, who shares ideas and ideals with Sanders, when she is selected by a majority of the delegates to be the nominee for president of the Democratic Party.
If Sanders cannot resist the intoxication of success and attention, then he will continue a campaign although helping defeat Trump is the most important issue for the American people. He may convince himself that he is too important to step aside for anyone else.
He served in Congress for decades in relative anonymity without great legislative success or support. Perhaps this individuality led to his lack of greater success in law-making. He needs to relent from the idea that he can be the only candidate or that the Democratic Party must go “full Sanders” before he can step aside into a support role.
Hillary Clinton embraces principles that he proposes but she successfully balances the need for conventional leadership with the need for progressive reform. President Obama met with Bernie in the White House and hopefully Democrats will come together to bring success to the party that stands for the rights of all Americans while it works to provide for the needs of all Americans.
No matter who is president, the successful candidate will face challenges that cannot be resolved by big government spending or laissez-faire capitalism. America has lived beyond its means for more than 30 years and it is likely there will a recession due to economic factors, no matter who is elected in November.
In 10 years, there will be a massive increase in the population of retired Americans. How a president balances regulation and incentive and policy will determine our economic future. Trump will stick it to the pensioners and Social Security recipients while grudgingly raising taxes. Sanders will keeping raising taxes on the top one percent, then the top two percent and then the top 20 percent of Americans. What will happen after taxes are increased and the national debt explodes?
Leaders have to balance prudence with vision to provide for a good future. Donald Trump is a road map for failure based on his failed businesses and failed ideas. Bernie Sanders has some wonderful ideas but displays an ideological rigor mortis similar to the kind that afflicts hard-line conservatives. It produces deadlock instead of decision-making.
Hillary Clinton has the knowledge, experience and ideas to help America while helping Americans. None of the candidates is perfect but what America needs is a leader with good sense and experience who can lead.
May her memory be a blessing 
Has Gowanus Tunnel proposal been shafted – or postponed for years?