Should Bernie Sanders Drop Out of the Presidential Race
As someone who is a supporter of the candidacy of Bernie Sanders for President of the United States, this is not an easy topic for me to write about. To be honest, Im still reeling a bit (almost 2 months after Super Tuesday) at how far weve come to be talking about the former democratic front-runner dropping out of the race and for Joe Biden of all people. I dont have anything personal against Joe per say; I actually think of him as a genuinely likeable character. If we were talking about the Joe Biden of 8 or even 4 years ago, while I would still have major reservations based on his policies, poor judgement (e.g. voting for the war in Iraq), and questionable record on race and womens issues, theres an even critical problem with his candidacy today.
Joe is not demonstrating, at this point in his life, that he is mentally up to the task of running, let alone being, President. People arent even excited about him in the same way many were excited about Hillary in 206 and we all know what happened with that. Im in shock (but also not) that the Democratic party establishment went for the kill shot on Bernies candidacy using Biden as their standard bearer. Biden God love him is without a doubt in a state of mental decline and its been obvious in everything from his debate performances, his rallies, interviews with the media, and most significantly in his response to the Covid-9 pandemic. Im genuinely worried at this point even if Trump is found to have completely bungled his handling of this global crisis leaving 00,000 to 250,000 dead or more hell still win re-election if his challenger is Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, theres one other candidate running for President who is not only clearly in control of his mental faculties but who also has an agenda big enough to take on the devastating effects of coronavirus on the working people of America. If Medicare for All was the system of healthcare the US had in place right now, what was needed and how to achieve it would be drastically simplified. The millions who have lost or are about to lose their jobs would not lose their health coverage. The arguments for Bernie leaving the race basically the same re-hashed arguments used against him the last time around when he was running against Hillary only make sense if youre a member of the democratic establishment who sees him as a threat to the status quo (whatever that is anymore) or youre someone who just doesnt want him in the race anymore for personal or policy reasons.
While the path is extremely narrow in the midst of this Black Swan Event that is the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Bernie finds himself much better positioned to continue in this race than he was at a similar point four years ago. His coalition is stronger and more influential than they were in the last campaign cycle. They have supplied an energy to the party that it wouldnt have had without millions of young and working people being swept out of their disenfranchisement and into engagement in the political process. Whats more, with an unbelievable weak likely nominee in Joe Biden, there might yet be need for the strongest representative of the progressive movement to wait in the wings. Therefore, I say Bernie should stay in this race and continue to fight for the policies and agenda that have galvanized a generation of voters who believe in a better future, as Bernie would say, for all of us and not just the one percent.