As a Bernie Sanders delegate at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, I supported the policies he articulated then—and still support them today. My goal in attending was to fight as hard as possible to ensure that we would get a more progressive platform. I have written both at Daily Kos and at my site about the strengths and flaws of each candidate as I saw them, and Bernie Sanders backers and Hillary Clinton supporters paid for my trip to the convention in almost equal amounts. The people that contributed to my trip knew where I stood and were confident that I would do what was best for the party. That is what is necessary for any party and its policies to succeed: one must move forward and work toward the next cycle.
When the process was over, I proudly supported the nominee of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, 100 percent. To be clear, even when she ran against President Obama, it was clear that on paper she was the most qualified and immediately ready to run a government. In 2008, I initially supported her but switched to then-Sen. Obama after his South Carolina win. But that’s a story for another day.
There are currently a lot of animosities between factions in the Democratic Party. Many women and men, especially baby boomers, feel there will not be another opportunity in their lifetime to elect a woman, while most Bernie supporters are justifiably upset that the Democratic establishment had a clear bias for Hillary Clinton.
We are all grown ups. Politics can be rough, every candidate wants to win, and their operatives push the envelope. It did not help that Russia assisted in creating divisions within the Democratic Party, but the election is over—and Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College.
There are now two paths that party leaders can take: they can relitigate the election, which will get us nowhere. Or they can move forward with a new resolve. The latter makes much more sense.
So how do we get there?