I’ve wrestled with this quite a bit. And as someone who donated to his political campaigns, multiple times, I still think Bernie has to go too. It’s not that he’s wrong, it’s that he’s just too old to be doing work. The optics are awful.
The larger issue is that the Dem party has been nipping buds before they can even stretch for the sun, for decades. So any real progressive candidates will need to be drawn in from the outside. Which also means the Dem party itself needs to be dismantled from the top, and reconstructed to be effective in the 21st century. Late 1900s strategies are all the Dems have been offering, while losing again and again and again. Bernie has been an Independent since 1978. And that’s largely a function of Vermont. So the question is, how can we affect the political landscape such that living fossils understand they’re no longer wanted, when their entire careers are predicated on egoism insisting that theirs are the necessary hands on the tiller?
So, I’m not saying throw the wizened baby out with the bathwater, but asking an 83 year old man to serve another 6 years is not fair to anyone. And despite his fantastic vigor, it’s a recipe for diminishing returns.
The only way forward for Dems is to drop all the old guard. They’re all remnants of a different time, and the world has moved on.
For real. Drop anyone over 55, other than Bernie.
I’ve wrestled with this quite a bit. And as someone who donated to his political campaigns, multiple times, I still think Bernie has to go too. It’s not that he’s wrong, it’s that he’s just too old to be doing work. The optics are awful.
The larger issue is that the Dem party has been nipping buds before they can even stretch for the sun, for decades. So any real progressive candidates will need to be drawn in from the outside. Which also means the Dem party itself needs to be dismantled from the top, and reconstructed to be effective in the 21st century. Late 1900s strategies are all the Dems have been offering, while losing again and again and again. Bernie has been an Independent since 1978. And that’s largely a function of Vermont. So the question is, how can we affect the political landscape such that living fossils understand they’re no longer wanted, when their entire careers are predicated on egoism insisting that theirs are the necessary hands on the tiller?
So, I’m not saying throw the wizened baby out with the bathwater, but asking an 83 year old man to serve another 6 years is not fair to anyone. And despite his fantastic vigor, it’s a recipe for diminishing returns.