Jonathan Chait frames the frustration of the Berners well:
"African-American support for Hillary Clinton asserted itself again in Wisconsin and accounts for her firm command of the Democratic primary. It is likewise the source of befuddlement and consternation among Bernie Sanders’s supporters. Sanders has energetically promoted racial justice and attracted numerous high-profile black surrogates, all of whom earnestly see his brand of left-wing politics as a natural fit for their community. And African-Americans form the bulwark of the Democratic base, just as white southern Evangelicals do the Republican base. But while white southern Evangelicals have relentlessly pushed their party rightward, by supporting the tea party and other conservative activist movements, African-Americans have played nearly the opposite role in the Democratic Party, helping its mainstream wing to crush its ideologically purist insurgency. From the perspective of a Sanders loyalist, the behavior is puzzling. Why would the party’s most underprivileged community exhibit the least radical tendencies?"
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/pragmatic-tradition-of-black-voters.html
Chait is a white guy but some black writers and thinkers have expressed agreement with his premise: the basic reason is the pragmatism of black voters. There are many reasons a vote for her is more pragmatic:
1. She has a better chance of winning in November despite some general election polls before Bernie has been vetted. Actually you've seen some of the polls start to narrow already as Bernie has started to be vetted a little bit.
2. She has a better chance of getting things done if she's President.
However, there are a couple of other reasons I haven't seen mentioned.
3. A Bernie win would come despite black support of Hillary from anywhere from two thirds to nine tenths. So Hillary is important in terms of maximizing black influence within the Democratic party.
4. Black folks need a strong Democratic party-with the current threat of voter suppression across the country, in an era that is now post clause four of the Voting Rights Act.
It is very important that vulnerable black voters have a strong, unified Democratic party to fight this at every level-along with the issue of criminal justice.
A Democratic party that failed to stop Bernie would be a much weaker Democratic party, one that would likely split in two and descend into factions and sectarian conflicts, just as the GOP currently is. It would be ironic if the Dems forfeited this great opportunity with what's happening to the GOP and did it ourselves.
"African-American support for Hillary Clinton asserted itself again in Wisconsin and accounts for her firm command of the Democratic primary. It is likewise the source of befuddlement and consternation among Bernie Sanders’s supporters. Sanders has energetically promoted racial justice and attracted numerous high-profile black surrogates, all of whom earnestly see his brand of left-wing politics as a natural fit for their community. And African-Americans form the bulwark of the Democratic base, just as white southern Evangelicals do the Republican base. But while white southern Evangelicals have relentlessly pushed their party rightward, by supporting the tea party and other conservative activist movements, African-Americans have played nearly the opposite role in the Democratic Party, helping its mainstream wing to crush its ideologically purist insurgency. From the perspective of a Sanders loyalist, the behavior is puzzling. Why would the party’s most underprivileged community exhibit the least radical tendencies?"
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/pragmatic-tradition-of-black-voters.html
Chait is a white guy but some black writers and thinkers have expressed agreement with his premise: the basic reason is the pragmatism of black voters. There are many reasons a vote for her is more pragmatic:
1. She has a better chance of winning in November despite some general election polls before Bernie has been vetted. Actually you've seen some of the polls start to narrow already as Bernie has started to be vetted a little bit.
2. She has a better chance of getting things done if she's President.
However, there are a couple of other reasons I haven't seen mentioned.
3. A Bernie win would come despite black support of Hillary from anywhere from two thirds to nine tenths. So Hillary is important in terms of maximizing black influence within the Democratic party.
4. Black folks need a strong Democratic party-with the current threat of voter suppression across the country, in an era that is now post clause four of the Voting Rights Act.
It is very important that vulnerable black voters have a strong, unified Democratic party to fight this at every level-along with the issue of criminal justice.
A Democratic party that failed to stop Bernie would be a much weaker Democratic party, one that would likely split in two and descend into factions and sectarian conflicts, just as the GOP currently is. It would be ironic if the Dems forfeited this great opportunity with what's happening to the GOP and did it ourselves.
Luckily, this won't happen. Bernie just yesterday admitted they are playing for an open convention. No brokered convention in the unlikely chance it did go there would select Bernie Sanders who is not a Democrat and who attacks the party's Establishment relentlessly and has raised not one thin dime for the party.
The AA thinker Theodore White had this response to Chait's article:
"So yes, as @jonathanchait says, blacks are pragmatists. But there's much more to it.. there's ideological incongruence w/ Sanders, too (fin)"
"It isn't that blacks want socialism but will accept liberalism in its stead due to pragmatism;it's that blacks are centrists in the mean"
https://twitter.com/T_R_Johnson_III/status/719509108022378497
This is why Bernie was criticized roundly at the debate when he talked about why it's tough being black: because ghetto life is tough.
It suggested that he thinks all blacks are poor.
So this is real trouble with the Berner question of why black folks don't Feel the Bern. It presumes that 'They of all people, poor as they are, should be first in line for Bernie.'
It ignores that today most black folks aren't poor. For more on this, see Eugene Robinson's excellent book.
http://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-Splintering-America-Eugene-Robinson/dp/0767929969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460381494&sr=8-1&keywords=eugene+robinson
What usually happens after this is the Berners huff that black folks don't understand their own interests. Then they wonder why they are bombing with black voters.
The AA thinker Theodore White had this response to Chait's article:
"So yes, as @jonathanchait says, blacks are pragmatists. But there's much more to it.. there's ideological incongruence w/ Sanders, too (fin)"
"It isn't that blacks want socialism but will accept liberalism in its stead due to pragmatism;it's that blacks are centrists in the mean"
https://twitter.com/T_R_Johnson_III/status/719509108022378497
This is why Bernie was criticized roundly at the debate when he talked about why it's tough being black: because ghetto life is tough.
It suggested that he thinks all blacks are poor.
So this is real trouble with the Berner question of why black folks don't Feel the Bern. It presumes that 'They of all people, poor as they are, should be first in line for Bernie.'
It ignores that today most black folks aren't poor. For more on this, see Eugene Robinson's excellent book.
http://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-Splintering-America-Eugene-Robinson/dp/0767929969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460381494&sr=8-1&keywords=eugene+robinson
What usually happens after this is the Berners huff that black folks don't understand their own interests. Then they wonder why they are bombing with black voters.
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