Squabbling Dems cross line at peril
Many years ago, in the middle of a spat over a presidential nomination, former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt leaned in from the sidelines.
The wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt said she found watching the back-and-forth between the candidates “a little painful” inasmuch as “men in the heat of campaigns say things they are sorry for afterwards. “
It was all “very wasteful,” she said.
Democrats might very well share Mrs. Roosevelt’s misgivings as they watch the 2020 nominating fight unfold.
The closer the candidates get to decision-time in Iowa and New Hampshire, the closer they and others in the party get to crossing a line they ought not to cross.
Indeed, it’s fair to say some in the party have engaged in the kind of verbal jousting that will, if unchecked, undermine party unity, and if the eventual Democratic nominee will need anything in 2020, it’s party unity.
Defeating Donald Trump will be tough enough. Opening wounds now that will have a hard time healing by November will make the job even tougher.
Here’s a rundown of what’s been said:
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have disputed one another’s veracity and whether Sanders did or did not say that a woman could be elected president.
Following their last debate, the senator from Massachusetts confronted the senator from Vermont. “I think you just called me a liar on national TV,” Warren said, not realizing her words were being picked up by a CNN mic.
Sanders replied, “You called me a liar. You told me — all right, let’s not do it now.”
On the heels of this, a Sanders supporter declared that former vice president Joe Biden, a front-runner for the Democratic nomination, had “a big corruption problem.”
Nevermind that the senator quickly apologized. Damage done. The fact that any Democrat would echo Donald Trump was unconscionable. What was the supporter, law professor Zephyr Teachout, thinking?
Then just this past week, Hillary Clinton voiced her still-lingering animosity toward Sanders and the 2016 nomination fight.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Hillary had some harsh words for Bernie, who didn’t concede the nomination to the former first lady and secretary of state until the summer of 2016, which was way too late for the party’s own good.
“Nobody likes him,” Clinton said, “nobody wants to work for him, he’s got nothing…. It’s all just baloney, and I feel so bad for people who got sucked into it.”
The 2016 Democratic nominee, who beat Trump by some 2.8 million votes only to lose to him in the Electoral College, then echoed her unfortunate depiction of Trump’s 2016 voters as “deplorables.”
Her target this time: Sanders’ devoted supporters.
“It’s not only him,” Hillary said, “it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros. It should be worrisome that he permitted this culture – not only permitted it, {he} seems to be very much supporting it.”
Afterward, Jane Kleeb, chair of the Democratic party in Nebraska, told the New York Times, “I understand {Hillary} is frustrated with Sen. Sanders, but I also think this is the time to go after Trump.”
“I just don’t think it’s appropriate for Democrats to be criticizing other Democrats, especially with personal attacks like that,” said party leader Gilberto Hinojosa of Texas ” I understand why there can be bitterness…. I believe we just need to leave that behind us.”
David Axelrod, a former political advisor to Barack Obama, assessing Hillary’s remarks, said, “If the goal of Democrats is to win, I’m not sure that interventions like this are likely to help unify and mobilize all elements of the party in the fall.” Clinton “of all people should know this.”
As for Eleanor Roosevelt, there was a happy ending in her case. The candidates she so despaired of were Hubert Humphrey and John Kennedy.
Kennedy disposed of Humphrey in the spring. In the fall, he defeated Richard Nixon to capture the White House. But it was a close call. JFK’s final margin of victory was exceedingly slender.
In 2020, a slim Democratic victory would be welcome. Better: a sound thrashing. If Democrats want to wallop Trump, they’d be wise to play it smart.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.