Slow To Bern

Bernie Sanders is everything a progressive like I could want in a presidential candidate.  He wants to guarantee universal health care.  He wants to rebuild our infrastructure.  And he wants to go after the bastards who run Wall Street and restore some fairness to this country's economy.

So why am I not excited by his campaign?

I just can't get enthusiastic about him.  I have friends who talk about "feeling the Bern," as they put it, but I don't feel the same electricity that others do.  And yet, I'm actually supporting him now?

I can't get excited for Bernie Sanders now for the same reason I couldn't get excited for him before; I was already excited for someone else.  But with Martin O'Malley out of the race, and with the notion of President Hillary Clinton being a very troubling one indeed, I'm now a Sanders supporter by default.  I like him, and I will vote for him if I get the chance.  But that's all.

Why?  This is how I see it.  I can't get all excited over Sanders after devoting so much time, energy, and, yes, excitement to O'Malley.  I can't just suddenly get fired up about Bernie now that O'Malley is gone.  It would be like a Mets fan from northern New Jersey moving to southern New Jersey and suddenly becoming a Phillies fan overnight.  

Truth be told, Sanders has never enthused me.  He's always seemed angry and testy, and even though a progressive icon like he has a right to be angry and testy, he seems to be too perpetually annoyed to accomplish anything.  He clearly isn't the "happy warrior" type. Also, he needs to build consensus and work with the opposition if he wants to get anything done.  Not only does he seem to lack the ability to produce consensus, but as a former independent who's only been a Democrat since five o'clock last Monday, everyone in Washington might as well be his opposition.  

Quite frankly, although I hope Sanders can win the nomination and prevail in November, I have my doubts he can pull it off.  I know there are polls showing Sanders defeating Donald Trump in the general election.  But I still don't think Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.  And if Sanders runs against someone like John Kasich or even Jeb Bush, he's toast. 

At heart, I'm still an O'Malley supporter.  The country is fed up, it's sick and tired of establishment politics, and O'Malley was both an outsider and a loyal Democrat who has the finesse that Sanders lacks - and the progressive values that Hillary Clinton lacks.  Hey, I wrote O'Malley via his Web site last spring urging him to run; when he went ahead and ran, I was in for the long haul.  I was in right until the very, very bitter end.  I don't really have that same visceral connection to Sanders.  And again - I cannot emphasize this enough - how can I say that Sanders is the best person to run for President in nearly thirty years after having spent months saying the same thing about O'Malley?  That would be intellectually dishonest.  I'm supporting Sanders because he's my second choice.  But Martin O'Malley is still my first choice.

Right now, I'm hoping O'Malley will run again, though the only way he could run in 2020 is if the 2016 Democratic nominee wins but declines to run for a second term (not likely), if the 2016 Democratic nominee loses (more likely), or if Hillary Clinton, as the 2016 Democratic nominee, not only loses but loses so badly the Democratic Party goes the way of the Whigs (not out of the question!), permitting O'Malley to get the 2020 nomination of whatever party replaces the Democrats.  (If Sanders, as the nominee, loses that badly, the Democrats may still go the way of the Whigs, but with a progressive at the top of the ticket, at least then they would go down with dignity.)  Right now, realistically, 2024 looks more likely for O'Malley.  But also, right now, realistically, many of the same pundits who laughed him out of the race don't see a future for him in national politics.  Though, if O'Malley never becomes President, at least he will never be in a position to disappoint me.

I'm for Sanders now.  Feel the Bern.  Yay.  Go Bernie.  Whatever.

See, I can't get excited about it.