Or Maybe Not

There's been a lot of talk about how Bernie Sanders is a sell-out because he endorsed Hillary Clinton. Some are saying, "He's dead to me now," some believe that he was secretly in league with Hillary and the corrupt Democratic Party all along. That's not how I see it.

I went to see Bernie speak back on October 18 when he came through Tucson on his endorsement tour. Here's the coverage of that rally from my local paper: AZ Daily Star. The stage was decorated with "Stronger Together" banners but it wasn't really a Hillary rally. True, I saw more Hillary buttons (3) than Trump signs (2) but the crowd was there to see Sanders. Raúl Grijalva introduced Bernie just like he did for both of his previous appearances here. Grijalva's introduction was short, I doubt if he spoke for more than five minutes. He mentioned Secretary Clinton just once saying that she is, "the only rational choice." When Bernie came out he praised Grijalva's work with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and they gave each other a heartfelt abrazo. Bernie calls him "Raul" by the way, rhymes with Paul, but I have long ago forgiven him for his poor Spanish pronunciation since, you know, he ain't from around here. Then Sanders spoke.

It could be that my perception of the speech was clouded by my attachment to the Sanders campaign and progressive politics in general, but it didn't seem to me like a full-throated, unconditional endorsement. In fact, it seemed very much contingent on Clinton's actual support for the Democratic platform which, we were reminded, is the most progressive in history. He didn't say, "whereas ..., whereas.., whereas ...," but he might as well have. As he went through the platform plank by plank he said, "Secretary Clinton understands that ..." each time. Although the take-away for most was "Stop Trump" and he did spend some time on that theme, it seemed to me that he was endorsing Clinton only insofar as she "understood" the importance of the platform. All of this could be illusion, but I'm not ready to give up on Bernie yet.

I wasn't at that fateful meeting in Vermont back in June, but Grijalva was. I don't know the strategic considerations behind the decision to endorse but I'm sure there was vigorous discussion. For me, as a believer in electoral politics, it comes down to this: In the end, you've got to trust somebody. I trust Bernie Sanders and I trust Raúl Grijalva. There aren't two stronger, gutsier progressives in the country. And they're not idiots. I don't know what their calculations were but they did what they did for a reason. As Bernie said towards the end of his speech, "Our job begins on November 9" and I intend to follow his lead, and Grijalva's, as we suffer through a Presidency that no one really wants.