Don’t Expect Bernie Sanders To Follow Predecessors

Where Is “The Bern” Going To End Up Next?

When it comes to politics, they seem to be like a dysfunctional relationship. There’s the fighting, the snide comments and the outright confrontation—err debate or two. But then for some reason, it seems the parties involved tend to patch things up and go on about their business. The couple makes up and puts on a brave face against the world and yet, there are some people who won’t, or can’t forget, what happened between the two parties.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran against (now) President Barack Obama. It was a pretty bitter primary with Clinton throwing some shade at the president. It’s a primary race it happens.

“There’s a big difference between us — speeches versus solutions, talk versus action,” Clinton said via Politico back in 2008. “Speeches don’t put food on the table. Speeches don’t fill up your tank, or fill your prescription, or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night.”

Ironically, it’s President Obama’s speech, along with Michelle Obama’s and Biden’s, which did a lot of positive work for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. However, this is a different story for a different day.

In 2012, after the dust had settled. Clinton became a part of the Obama administration’s staff as the Secretary of State. One wouldn’t think the two could work together but apparently it was something Obama had to ask Clinton to accept multiple times according to husband Bill Clinton earlier this week.

What’s going to happen to Bernie Sanders?

Sanders fought an admirable campaign against Clinton and his followers show a passion that isn’t going to easily be swayed. He’s already fallen into line to promote the Clinton campaign. What he did during the Democratic National Convention should have helped heal the breach between his supporters and the Clinton. It’s not going as well as the Democratic Party would have liked.

However, here’s what paths lie ahead for Sanders. In the interim, he is going to probably throw as much support as he can toward Clinton’s campaign. Convincing all of the Bernie supporters to do an about face in a bitter fight is going to still be a problem all the way up to November.

“Our job is to do two things — to defeat Donald Trump and to elect Hillary Clinton,” Sanders said at the DNC. “It is easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face if we are living under a Trump presidency. Any objective observer will conclude that — based on her ideas and her leadership — Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States.”

Sanders also has to contend with the fact that some of his supporters are more interested in “not Hillary” than fighting against Donald Trump, which means some of them have already decided to vote for the GOP’s nominee instead of supporting the party.

After that, he is going to probably go back to being a senator as an independent and not keep his standing with the Democratic Party. He only registered as a Democrat for the general election. Sanders will probably take more of an impactful role in Congress, as he will have a lot more clout—something that was probably negotiated with the Democratic Party when they asked him to endorse Clinton.

It’s highly unlikely that Sanders is going to follow what Clinton did. Sanders isn’t going to join the Clinton administration, whether it is due to the bitter election or if it’s simply feeling out of place, it’s hard to say. But one thing is for certain, Sanders isn’t going to have an office next to Hillary Clinton.