Bernie Sanders looks unhappy. Not the usual permafrown that is his genuine, curmudgeonly self. No, I mean as in not happy with the way the campaign is going.
When Sanders started his campaign, it was all going to be about the class struggle. The working class, all over the country, every race color and creed, was going to rise up and unite.'Political Revolution!' He was going to run his campaign just like he ran it in Vermont, focused on the issues, always positive, and he was going to speak intelligently to the voters. Treat them like adults. Somewhere within his sense of America, there is a majority out there who agrees with him. If only they had the right leader... himself.
He started with great potential. There was 40% of the vote available out there and Elizabeth Warren, who could be a competitor, wasn't running. He went on TV, plenty. He spoke to packed crowds. He raised tons of money from small donors. Obviously he didn't run for president to speak to crowds and collect donors. These things are only means to an end. Convincing the working class to rise up and follow him, that was the goal.
Its not working out so well.
First, Sanders got blind sided by Donald Trump. How is that for irony? A Manhattan billionaire of the sort Sanders rails against all the time, is winning the white working class by big margins. An opportunity lost.
Second, Sanders, no matter how hard he as tried, hasn't been able to connect with black and latino working class people either. That pretty much leaves him without the very people he intended to lead.
Instead he's found himself stuck with perhaps the people least in need of his leadership. Well educated, affluent ideologues and their idealistic children in college.
Worse, he is finding himself becoming a conventional candidate rather than a revolutionary leader. He's going negative and using doubletalk to pretend he isn't. He has a long time Washington DC corporate establishment insider as a campaign strategist who spends more time talking to the press than the candidate. All the money these good, decent people are sending him is increasingly sucked up by a DC consultant and his Rolodex who are now licking their lips and rubbing their hands at the new golden goose. Even hiring a pollster will suck up even more of their money. It won't be long before he is down to the dark arts of media buys. Calling elected officials and asking for endorsements. Prepping for debates with zingers. Reading the results of his new pollster and adjusting accordingly.
Worse, his prospects for revolution are now looking slim. The Democratic leader appears uninterested in assisting. His would be successor is working the status quo, because she wants a job, not a revolution. Local officials are flocking to her banner, not his. One of his closet working class heroes in the Senate just endorsed his corporate backed opponent. The only place in America where his prospects are encouraging is his own backyard. Oh, for the October days of Vermont and its lovely foliage.
At some point, one has to ask what's it all for? Certainly not to transfer wealth from ordinary voters to a rich guy like Tad Devine. To surrender the white working people to a rich buffoon like Donald Trump. To be happy, one must realize ones true essential nature. Bernie Sanders realized that nature years ago and its made him who he is. But this process, the process of becoming a president... perhaps is making him question himself.