Barack Obama has kept pretty mum during the Democratic presidential primaries. You can easily see why – it’s been bitterly divided between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Though it was always obvious that Obama would be erring hard on the side of Clinton – she was, after all, his Secretary of State – it wasn’t something he could say openly without causing some drama. Sanders has built a coalition led by young people that demand a more equitable and more progressive politics than the Democratic Party is generally willing to provide, and there’d be little reason for Obama to rock the boat by dismissing them out of hand.
But now that Clinton is the presumptive nominee, Obama is free as a bird to do what he probably wanted to do from day one: endorse Clinton. Obama, it seems, does not #FeelTheBern.
But they’re still mates! Look at those smiles.
It’s been a very rocky primary, and it has exposed deep divisions that will be very, very hard for the Democrats to simply gloss over leading up to the showdown against Donald Trump. Clinton comes from a far more ‘establishment’ mode of politics in the Democratic Party, which Sanders supporters reckon is too pro-corporate and too pro-war.
Much of the conversation among liberals has been about how Sanders supporters must now swallow a bitter pill and vote for their opposing candidate to prevent someone much worse from being elected. That’s potentially true – unless they’re willing to throw caution to the wind and embrace a Trump presidency, then they probably should.
But on the other side of the coin, Clinton surrogates probably need to grasp the concept that a crotchety old Vermont socialist has definitely lit a fire under the arse of the left in America. His revolution didn’t happen today, but there are a lot of dissatisfied, economically dislocated people that need to be given assurances that it won’t just be the same old shit.
Either way, the November election – fuckin’ November – is going to be wild as hell. That is the PEDESTRIAN.TV guarantee, or your money back.
Source: YouTube.
Photo: Getty Images.
