It's Time for Unity

Now that the New York primary has concluded, and Hillary Clinton won by 15%, it's time for the Sanders campaign to re-assess and for Democratic voters to unite.  Bernie did everyone a favor by forcing the discussion to be around  income inequality and the power of big money in our lives and our elections.  Those messages have been received loud and clear.

It has been obvious, to anyone who pays attention, that whoever is elected will not be able to pass and pay for all the ideas that Bernie supported--free tuition, free universal health care, raising the minimum wage to $15, expanding Social Security and Medicare, etc.  However, he did us a favor by raising them, and hopefully, those issues will remain in the forefront of our political discourse.

It is also now obvious that Hillary will be the Democratic nominee for president.  She's only about 300 delegates away from the nomination with a lot of big states still to vote, and she's ahead of where Obama was at this point in 2008.  She has faults, but not nearly so many as Donald Trump--her likely Republican opponent.

But what I'm most worried about is that Bernie will continue to pursue the nomination and attack Hillary, thereby lessening her chances in November.  Let's face it, it's hard to give up the adulation of large crowds and the belief that you're the best candidate.  It's also hard for a lifelong Independent, as Bernie has been before deciding to run for president as a Democrat, to fully endorse the nominee of the Democratic Party, after referring to both parties throughout his career as "Tweedledee and Tweedledum."

I fear that if he doesn't get behind Hillary soon, he will have the same alienating effect as did Ralph Nader in 2000, leading to the election of George W. Bush.  If Sanders causes damage resulting in President Trump, it will be disastrous.

My point is that it's now time for unity, at least among the Democrats, so that Bernie's supporters can start to (perhaps begrudgingly) coalesce around Hillary.  So, my message to Bernie is the title of a film by Spike Lee (a Sanders supporter)...Do the Right Thing.