My thoughts on Bernie, and I'm assuming that he's in it for ideology and not ego, is that he's staying in to keep her from drifting too much back to the center. She knows that only the most self-hating Bernie supporters won't vote for her in November. They won't vote for Trump. She wants them, of course, but they aren't her primary concern.
What she needs is the middle and the Chamber of Commerce Republicans. She knows he can't win on a coalition of working class whites, racists, and conspiracy theorists. She is going to make herself presentable to the Mitt Romney wing of the party who are going to hold their nose and vote for her. People talk about how much she is "hated" by the right -- but the people who are invested in actually hating her are the Trump voters. Sure, she's not a natural politician and can be grating, but no one thinks she's stupid or crazy or irresponsible.
Sanders wants his platform to be heard, and to his credit, he's far surpassed any other leftist candidate I can remember. I think it's a bit selfish to make her spend money in California, and if his attacks become helpful to Trump and therefore counterproductive to his message I'll lose patience with him.
For now, I'm choosing to believe that this is how Bernie is reading the tea leaves. He's keeping his platform alive so it isn't forgotten in her pivot to the center to claim the middle and maybe even middle right.
I could be wrong.
I like your benefit of the doubt to Sanders. It's commendable. BUT
At this point it is feeling very much more like Ego to me, and not just trying to further his position in keeping Clinton to the left.
I think the best way to explain this is to put to rest the false narrative that has been sold by Bernie, and swallowed hook line and sinker by most of his supporters. That lie is that these two candidates are lightyears apart in their platforms. That Clinton is some Republican light that is just as bad as voting in Trump or some other GOPer.
The facts:
Citizens United - Both fervently want to overturn it.
Immigration Reform - Both want to get something concrete passed with a path to citizenship. Here i would say Clinton is even more focused on this.
Wall St. Reform - Both want stricter regulations. Again, Clinton has showed more in depth plans to regulate more deeply into all Wall St. institutions, where Sanders has mostly just repeated claims to break up the banks! Something that is already doable under Dodd Frank if banks don't meet the standards set.
Infrastucture - Both want large new investments into this
Renewables - Both have plans to greatly increase our position with renewables and to lessen our use of fossil fuels. Sanders is to the left on fracking, but this again brings up one of my main issues with him, is that he shouts to just so No to fracking, NO to drilling, No to coal, where Clinton is thinking about a realistic transition, when the reality is that currently renewables are only about 6% of our power source.
Guns - Clinton obviously a much more out front supporter of fighting the NRA and getting gun legislation passed. She's on his left here.
Minimum wage - Both want huge increases in minimum wage. Bernie wanting 15 Federally, and Clinton 12 federally, and 15 or more in high cost metro areas as they see fit. This again is where Clinton makes MUCH more sense to me. As the cost of living in Manhattan and Boston and LA are enormously higher than say, Elk River Minnesota. This is why a split plan, of 12 Fed, and 15 Metro is more logical and more doable.
Equal Pay, family leave - Both are strongly for this, and again would say Clinton is even more "out front" on these issues than Sanders.
Women's Choice - Both obviously for this, but again, Clinton has a more proactive strength on this issue.
College - Both want big changes here. For reasons i wont fully get into, i again think Clintons plan is better, for the simple fact that I think it could get passed. Free community college and debt free college is still a huge undertaking and would be a huge liberal win if it can be done.
Social Security - Both want to strengthen and extend. Sanders at this point has a more concrete plan he is touting, while Clinton has different ideas to reach the same goal, but she does need to get herself together on this point.
Either way, both better than GOP alternatives.
Healthcare - Obviously Bernie is to the left hear. But again, it comes down to the current reality. If ACA can really be improved and get to full coverage, it will be great for now. I think we all can agree, single payer will take much longer to get instituted, and will probably be a multi presidential effort over decades. Again, both are better than GOP.
I'm sure I'm missing a bunch, but these are the big ones. Of course, just the importance of the SCOTUS picks, should be enough to make everyone vote blue no matter what.
How anyone could look at these main issues and be a #bernieorbust person, just boggles my mind, and really shows me that they are being willfully ignorant.
Sadly, I think Bernie has bought into this whole false narrative, and standing in front of large rallies has given him the ego to keep banging at Clinton hard, instead of easing up on her personally and still just sticking with his issues as we get to June.
Hopefully, he will come around in the end. I hope so...
