Despite all the talk about how Bloomberg and his money are going to come riding in on his white stallion to save the Democrats from their voters, they seem to be left with two equally unappealing choices. There is another debate next week, and if Mikey has the same type of showing he had in the last debate, all the slick Madison Avenue advertising and creatively edited tweets may not be able to rescue his campaign. He might be better prepares for the next debate in terms of oppo research, and he might even be able to respond to some of the challenges he had to know were coming in the first debate. But he comes off as a condescending, egotistical, self-important, elitist jerk. That’s going to be a lot harder to fix in a week.
For better or worse, people pick their favorites based on some very superficial criteria. That’s why we have a political discourse in this country that is ninety percent about the negative qualities of the opposition candidate and precious little about the free and open exchange of ideas. Bloomberg is woefully unappealing in many of those areas that would be necessary to have a broad appeal in a party where the rank and file voters range from very liberal to socialist. The fact that he is a billionaire does not bother me, nor does the fact that he is self-funding his campaign. But when the rest of the Party pounds a constant drumbeat against the one percent, being a member of that group cannot help.
At the moment, there seem to be three choices here, each of which is sure to cause upheaval among Democrats. One is that Bloomberg somehow becomes a viable candidate and can buy the nomination after sitting out most of the campaign. How will all those volunteers and campaign staff workers, and supporters who have slogged through the last year and a half feel about this New York Huckster? There was an obvious distaste for him from the first time he opened his mouth the other night. Worse, the MSM, usually a strong propaganda arm of the DNC, excoriated his debate performance. Result: Democrats lose in November.
The second scenario: Bernie Sanders wins and gets the nomination on the first ballot at the Convention. There is a robust Socialist base in the Party, but convincing a populace that is center-right and center-left, for the most part, to vote for the type of garbage he is peddling is not going to happen. Result: Democrats Lose.
The third scenario: No one wins enough delegates to win the nomination, and they head into a brokered convention. Nothing worse could happen to the Democratic chances than this. Party elites and insiders would then pick the party nominee. Then all the campaigning, all the primaries and caucuses, all the debates would be meaningless.
No one disputes that the Democrats need a large turnout to beat Donald Trump. A simple hatred of Trump will not be enough. If the democrats are going to get people out to the polls this election day, they will have to put forward someone who can convince voters to vote FOR them and not merely against Trump.
