Updates on the election for those of us...

[Crossless2.0]

Wow, people *really* must hate Clinton, huh?

There are a lot of people who practically foam at the mouth when her name is mentioned. The sad thing is, she is a lousy candidate but would have made a good President, assuming she had a Congress willing to work with her. But there were too many red flags about her -- some legitimate, some manufactured by her enemies. A Biden/Warren ticket, I think, would have whipped Trump.

And then there's Bernie.

It never seemed that Bernie had a snowball's chance in hell of winning, but now I have to wonder. Trump tapped into a sort of latter-day Know Nothing populism that fed on economic insecurity and class resentment. Given how virulently anti-elite, anti-establishment the mood is, perhaps Sanders was the only Democratic contender running this year who could have beaten Trump. He certainly would have given some of Trump's supporters pause as he made a populist case to their better angels.

I know, 20/20 and all that. But still . . . .

I can say this with certainty: I never again want to hear about a candidate who is "supposed" to get the nomination just because he/she has been around X number of years and has played ball. Fuck that. It's time for the Democrats to do some serious soul searching and produce their "How the Hell Did We Blow This?" autopsy report.

Obama may prove to be an historical anomaly -- a charismatic pragmatist who had the good fortune of running in the wake of Bush and the mess he made. But Obama aside and assuming Trump wins, in the last 16 years, the Democrats will have managed to lose three Presidential elections to two of the most beatable opponents ever.