Today’s post is in reference to something we talked about on the podcast but decided to reiterate it because THIS IS IMPORTANT.
If you read last week’s news, you might be under the impression that liberal hero Sen. Sherrod Brown’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton is cause to panic, curl into a ball, throw away all your #feelthebern tee shirts, and stop going on with the business of living. You might have this impression because the news relayed this information solely via panicky headlines followed by pictures of Hilz Clinton smiling and blurbs about how the Sanders campaign is now decimated. Later in the week, already flushed with excitement about the Brown thing, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Hillary endorsement caused the media to completely lose their minds. Apparently last week was the moment we were supposed to stop and question everything we know about everything. Are we real? Is food real? Is the sky blue? Does Diet Pepsi make you fat? (Actually, the answer to the latter is yes.)
THEN, hilariously, Brown even had the gaul to say in his statement that he was endorsing Hillary BECAUSE of her rejection of the TPP, a deal that she wrote and only later rejected because nobody on earth besides her thought it was a good idea. (The man leading that charge was, of course, Bernie Sanders.) It’s all too much. What on earth were we supposed to do?
Well for one, nothing. Do nothing. Stay calm. Eat an apple. Take a walk. Nothing crazy is happening.
Sherrod Brown is a liberal Senator who works with Sanders a lot, but he’s also a member of the Democratic caucus and relies on DNC funding to get re-elected every six years in a swing state. Sanders is an independent who doesn’t get DNC funding and gets re-elected every six years just because people in Vermont are friendly and have good ideas. Brown, unlike Sanders, has to play ball with the Democratic establishment. His early endorsement was clearly made at their behest and is in no way a sign that the Sanders campaign is sunk and the establishment has won. It’s, in fact, the opposite; a desperation move on the part of the DNC to exert some control over a primary that’s not going the way they thought it would. Brown didn’t endorse at all in the Clinton/Obama primary year, he’s somebody who generally stays out of the primary madness, so his early endorsement is likely a sign that the party has been leaning on him heavily. And while we’re at it, let’s address this Bill de Blasio situation. The man ran Clinton’s campaign for Senate in 2000 and has been a longstanding part of the Clinton mob. Yes, he’s to their left, but his early support is no surprise.
The Sanders campaign is about challenging the establishment’s system - the system that requires liberal hero Sherrod Brown to make an endorsement of Hillary Clinton because she’s powerful and has all the money, including money that he needs to stay in office. We’ve spoken on the podcast about how the Democratic establishment largely misunderstands what is going on in their own primary, and their very establishment-y attempts to take control of this election by getting establishment endorsements proves that further. Sanders’ momentum is not derived from random senator and mayoral endorsements, it’s about as grassroots and illogical (and awesome!) as it gets.
As for the endorsement-led media panic - they’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Predictable things aren’t surprising or shocking, even in unpredictable eras. Enough of the campaign death pronouncements.
Carry on #feelingthebern if you so choose. PSA out.