Embracing the probability that Bernie will actually win our nomination is a gradual process for me. The prospect is unsettling on various levels. And right now it is complicated by what is starting to feel inevitable — and of course I’m talking about him going into the convention with a plurality of delegates.
Because you are such scrappers of renown, it might be against your (and your candidate’s) nature to approach this coming phase sanguine about “allowing the process to play out,” but that is your optimal posture. I want you to know that there would be no better way to ease my concerns — to bring me into the fold as a highly energized ally, rather than the kind of gritting-teeth voter that so many of you were in the 2016 general election.
I need help growing confidence that this man will transition from a contrarian rabble-rouser to the kind of leader who is actually interested in expanding the fold, and who thinks it’s his job to genuinely consider other points of view. Unlike Republicans, that’s how we Dems are wired. No, I don’t expect him to become Barack Obama, but he should demonstrate that he is capable of returning us to a more stable place — that he doesn’t want to throw norms and systems overboard before appreciating the gravity of doing so.
I very much believe that Bernie’s chances of securing a majority of delegates (and, yes, that includes super-delegates) will increase the more he demonstrates respect for the party and its processes. Even though he is not my first or second choice, I voice this now because the greatest thing I fear is the downward spiral of a fractured party. If I were to see him and his die-hard supporters transition from distrusting all systems to a more statesmanlike equanimity I can see myself rapidly warming to his candidacy.
Go in guns blazing if you want to make it easier for “the party” to justify the exploration of all possibilities.
Needless to say, he still, just possibly, could be denied the nomination in the end. But please understand that for all the sincerely passionate arguments you may make about a brokered convention trying to “steal” the nomination from “the most popular” candidate, there are plenty of arguments that others may make in good faith, starting with the fact that the party has a right to pause before automatically awarding the nomination to a non-Democrat who has not won a majority.
We could argue forever about whose positions were strongest in such an event, but that’s not my point here. I just want to emphasize that, while I would never expect Bernie to stop being the fighter that he was born to be, I do expect him to evolve into a serious leader capable of steering this enormously diverse and complex ship of state, rather than someone who’s primary skill-set over the decades has been that of critic.