this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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He's less than useless. His moment passed. He had two chances. The first time, him and his supporters failed to see the lengths that the Democrats would go to to subvert his candidacy. Cool. I get it. It's understandable when building ground support and frankness and sincerity are the essence of what guides your success.
But then they failed to adjust to that reality in the interim and leverage that for a successful 2020 run. I can't imagine being owned so hard by the DNC and then just falling into line. Not just once from 2016-2020 but again from 2020-2024. His time came and went twice.
I don't give a shit if he's left or not. He's politically feeble. The left may not be dead, but it's worse off than basically everyone else including the Dems. And in no small part due to the strategic decisions of the Bernie campaign and the left's decisions to fuel it.
It is super easy to say Bernie is useless and then offer zero solutions yourself. I genuinely ask- who’s out there doing it better? What should he and others be doing instead? The left needs constructive organizing, not negative take downs with no counter points or real world solutions as alternatives.
I'm saying Bernie missed his moment. There is no better because we don't know what to do with this moment. We haven't built anything outside of Bernie and that failed.
Anyone who thinks they know what to do isn't recognizing what was lost when the Bernie campaigns failed. And maybe that's what's needed. To really see clearly how the Bernie moment failed to connect with the American public. We can complain that it was the Democrats fault. But damn if didn't fail in important ways as well.