NS: The day before the 2016 Democratic National Convention opened, Bernie Sanders said on NBC's Meet the Press: "We have to elect Secretary Clinton, who on every single issue -- fighting for the middle class, on health care, on climate change -- is a far, far superior candidate to Trump. That's where I think the focus has got to be." He was emphatic about that focus throughout the summer and fall, up until the voting ended on Election Day. Using Bernie as a scapegoat for Clinton's loss is ridiculous.
JB: Can this rift be healed? If not, how will it affect the election? It's not a minor matter.
NS: There'll always be a wide range of attitudes in the aftermath of a campaign filled with conflicts and anger. So, I hesitate to generalize. People who are focused on personalities will hold grudges on that basis. People who care most profoundly about the future of the country will have clarity about what's needed for the present and the future. Issues related to corporate power, economic inequality, militarism, institutionalized racism and structurally imposed injustice are deep, and we'll find out to what extent people want to engage with such depths in actively progressive ways or get sidetracked.
JB: Yes. We shall see. Every recent presidential election has been touted as the most important one in our lifetimes. How about this upcoming one? Are the stakes equally high this time?
NS: We're in what Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of now." Nina Turner, a co-chair of the Bernie 2020 campaign, wisely says: "Everything we love is on the line."
JB: Amen. Thanks so much for talking with me again, Norman. I hope we can do it again soon.
NS: A pleasure. Thank you, Joan.
***
Norman suggests reading his 5/3/19 piece: Bernie Sanders Is Everything Joe Biden Is Not
My 2015 interview with Norman: Government Ends Threat to Jail James Risen but Danger to Journalists and Whistleblowers Remains
RootsAction.org website
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
