I was struck by this op-ed by Joe Trippi this morning in the Los Angeles Times posted by a politico I know on Facebook: No, pundits, Hillary Clinton isn’t collapsing.
Yup, exactly, she’s not collapsing at all. She will win.
What many activists supporting Bernie Sanders don’t – or refuse – to understand is that the entire primary process is actually rigged. For all the talk about the Democrats being more open and inclusive since the presidential process was completely revamped in the late 1970s (read Jules Witcover’s amazing “Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976,” if you can find it …), it’s not. It’s even more exclusive than it was when crotchety old white men smoked their cigars in the backrooms and beat up on Shirley Chisolm.
Super Delegates will trounce Sanders. And, the activists will be, once again, buried by what the insiders want.
None of them will risk defecting to Green Party candidate Jill Stein – even if they agree with her on everything – because the Republicans will probably have Jeb Bush be their nominee, for the same reasons the Dems will nominate Clinton.
The GOP’s chances of winning the national election will be even more difficult than before because no one on their ticket will actually be speaking about working class issues (Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum are but they won’t be anywhere near the ticket) so they will have no way of building any kind of coalition or groundswell like Reagan was able to do in 1980. Trump, who is also speaking about working class issues, is the only one who brings new voters to Republicans because he’s a celebrity. He’s also the only one who could potentially trounce the spending by the Democrats.
The national media will also portray any GOP nominee as a rightwing lunatic whether they are or aren’t.
And that’s why Joe Biden is pining so much: Does he end the chances of the first female president ever based on his own legacy or does he just fade into the sunset.

For many reasons, Biden’s bloody hands are all over this wrecked economy – from his bills assisting the robber baron bankers, to the free trade deals that have gutted the country’s manufacturing, etc. In all honesty, it doesn’t matter whether Biden or Clinton are the Democrat nominees. Nothing will change. Working class people are screwed either way. Only Sanders and Trump will actually change things for working folks, in different ways, of course.
I should add, as well, that smart people can see through the rhetoric of some of the candidates. Clinton can promise everyone the moon when it comes to new government programs, little tokens that might make your life a little bit easier if you’re currently employed and doing OK (the “I got mine” crowd). But more government spending and handouts aren’t going to fix the underlying problems in this economy.
For most of the Republicans, it’s the same but opposite public policy. Fixing the corporate tax code should be done regardless of whether it creates job – set it and forget it – but there’s no guarantee it will create jobs. In fact, there’s a lot of evidence that it won’t; corporations are sitting more profit than ever before, workers are more productive than ever before, etc. Most – if not all – of the money saved by corporations via changes in the tax code will get passed onto shareholders.
As we wait for Biden, it’s all going to get very interesting …
Photo credit: Concord NH Patch: Biden Says He Longs for the Days of ‘Compromise’