Now we know. It was never really about the issues. It was about the ego of an old man who made promises to people he knew he could not keep just to make himself a footnote in the history books. As Bernie Sanders trumpeted to his adoring young fans that “Hillary Clinton is not qualified,” he selfishly and desperately turned the Democratic primary into an internecine exercise that threatens to gift the presidency to one of the worst Republican candidates in history.
Oh Bernie, we hardly knew you. We cheered when you pretended you would appeal to voters’ intellects by eschewing false personal attacks, and sticking to the issues you thought were of paramount importance. Although we now know you only feigned generosity in declining to take a cheap shot in a debate when there was an effort to goad you into discussing Hillary’s email fight, we trusted you to not hurt our chances of avoiding the disaster that the election of one of the Republican candidates promised. And, you earned our affection when you said Hillary would be superior compared to any of the Republicans running for president.
But tonight, as you saw that mathematically you cannot stop the delegates from nominating Hillary, you decided to give Trump, Cruz or whomever else the GOP nominates as the chooser of the next Supreme Court Justice, your implied endorsement, ammunition, and tragically, the benefit of leading your supporters to sit out the general election.