The Clinton Machine will be in full scorched earth, search and destroy mode after the debate last night. I don't know how they will approach the destruction of Bernie Sanders, but they will certainly give it everything they've got. However, they have a very big obstacle to overcome -- Bernie doesn't have a bad word to say about them, in fact he supported Hillary last night. This is truly revolutionary and possibly rhetorically insurmountable as far as they're concerned. He is their worst nightmare -- a fellow without mud to sling is hard to sling mud at. And he has set the bar so high they are probably too low to grab it.
Hillary Clinton last night was the nervously grinning personification of the dying gasp of the status quo. It is truly amazing that we have progressed so far over the last eight years that even her cache as potentially the first woman President does not appear to be driving opinion. The other fellows standing up there looked like my Dad and his friends at a Bob Marley concert.
Hillary and her handlers failed to recognize that Bernie is not kidding. He means what he says and this is so very, very hard for folks that have spent their entire lives with their fingers in the wind. She was not prepared to be either a more flashy Socialist or a convincing Capitalist last night. She was just Hillary. It is sad to say, but she was depending on the reality show of her life to carry the moment -- it didn't.
To me, a voter, what made the biggest impression was Bernie talking about The Citizens United Decision -- possibly the worst single thing that has happened to our Democracy. Bernie's money is coming from small donors and unions. Hillary's money is coming from not small donors nor unions. She is the Democratic money raising equivalent of George Bush, both. She is the past. She may be the ideological anti-Bush but she is structurally a peer.
A problem for Hillary, and something I don't think she can overcome, is precisely one of the strongest aspects of her candidacy -- she is a woman advocating for women. Bernie has and will be good to and for women. He has kinda cancelled out this uniqueness. This leaves her with addressing the issues with him on a level playing field -- he has taken away her advantage.
Bernie is truly a unique cat. He is the avatar of the all the soaring, cannabis animated, conversations we baby boomers had about politics and society and the world that would empower a Richard Nixon and how we would change it.
Rob Kall asked a question here in a recent article, "How Will Bernie Show His Toughness?". Anyone that declares himself a Socialist and walks on a CNN stage in Las Vegas...has really big cajones. I don't think Bernie has a problem with toughness.
(Article changed on October 15, 2015 at 13:44)
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