The eulogy need not be long, but it should be as candid as decorum permits.
Last night we witnessed the death throe of a fraud. It was a loving fraud, a solicitous fraud, a fraud that was in many ways self-absorbed but in no way self-centered. It was a fraud perpetrated by the naive on the naive, a fraud that gave vigor to itself by the powerful, almost religious life force of self-delusion. It was, in short, the fraud of a leftist "political revolution" in the United States.
Its violent end in South Carolina was not premature; its perpetration was. In chess, one must be wary of moving one's queen out too soon. The same goes for political movements. National conditions must be favorable and one's vulnerabilities at a minimum — and for Sen. Sanders, they decidedly were not.
He launched his "revolution" not in the maneuverable grips of a 1930s Hooveresque collapse, but in the midst of an Obamian recovery. Further, he lacked the forces to protect his front line. When he made his bold and singular move, he exposed himself to a counteroffensive onslaught consisting of virtually all the opposing pieces, known as the traditional Democratic coalition. Sander's queen of white progressives — chiefly young white progressives — was condemned from the get-go.
Every sober, left-leaning political strategist saw this coming, and the prudent ones helped to shut it down as soon as primarily possible. Ultimate victory against the reactionary barbarians — which is, after all, the whole point of this "game" — lies in a healthy, fully intact Democratic coalition. This thundering, straightforward reality simply cannot be overemphasized, for the surviving Democratic queen is about to confront a consummate king of authentic populist fury, indeed a genuine political revolution — translatable into feral, profound electoral ignorance.
These last few months have demonstrated with a frightful vividness just how deep, or rather how profoundly, the ignorance can run. Magnificent frauds have been at least competitive on both sides — from utopian fantasies which some almost unbelievably believe in to making American great again via cringe-worthy bluster — hence, going forward and beginning now, an even profounder realism must be hammered. And it must be hammered from the front lines of Democratic unity. Just to play it safe.
I was, then, more than a little appalled by the false giddiness of Paul Begala's post-South Carolina words last night: "I don’t want [Bernie] to go away. He’s making Hillary a better candidate. And he’s not running an insult-based campaign. I don't want it to end."
We get it, Paul. We get the strategery. Kill off Bernie with kind, condescending pats on the head. He's no longer a threat.
But he is, of sorts. In Sanders's Minnesota remarks last night, he "dinged [Clinton] on the fact that she had an active super PAC working for her while Sanders did not. Then he attacked the Democratic front-runner for refusing to release the transcripts of her private speeches to major banks…. Then the Vermont senator pivoted to his vote on the Iraq war and contrasted it to Clinton's position."
What's more, in a preceding statement released from a fugitive 30,000 feet, Sanders said "Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning."
So while the fraud is indeed electorally dead, it's also morphing into a stalking zombie.
Begala & Co. doesn't believe a word of what it now says, of course. But let's be just as clear on one other thing. Bernie Sanders has taken not only to running an insult-based campaign, the campaign will get even more insulting and thus unity-disrupting before it folds its tent.
In the interest of thrashing the barbarians, even those still feeling the bern should "want it to end." Otherwise, they are only berning themselves.