(UPDATE: Some really good and helpful items from the Comments below, stuff I hadn’t fully known or realized. Adam B offers the full text of what Hillary said on the night that Obama claimed victory… her words even then contained many signals of party unity and of genuine admiration toward her rival. And Wisper pointed out that on the morning of June 5, just a day and a half after the night of June 3 when Obama claimed victory… Hillary Clinton wrote her supporters an email sharing her plans to concede and endorse. It is true that Sanders and his campaign do not seem to be taking that path, and it is indeed concerning. Thanks for this good info… I learned a few things here.)
== END OF UPDATE
Original Diary:
I’m seeing a lot of clamor that Bernie Sanders MUST CONCEDE promptly after (or even during!) Hillary Clinton’s anticipated victory party tomorrow evening, Tuesday, June 7.
There has been much reference to Hillary Clinton’s graceful concession in June 2008. She conceded, with grace and nobility and eloquence, when it became clear that Obama had reached the requisite # of pledged delegates and superdelegates combined. It was a relief and it was even inspiring, when she spoke. But she did not concede that night when Obama and his campaign announced victory. She instead went quiet for a few days. She was probably confirming the new reality with her most trusted advisors and confidantes. She conceded 3 or 4 days after Obama declared victory and the media all agreed with him.
Can we keep that in mind, in the coming few days?
I recall that during those 3-4 quiet days in June 2008, when Clinton had clearly lost the contest but had not yet conceded, some of the words posted in here about her were pretty damn brutal. She had been using language that indicated she fully intended to keep fighting, keep campaigning, keep pressing on. Then.. silence.
Losing a long-fought presidential primary is brutally hard on the losing candidate. Hillary has shared, candidly and poignantly, that June 2008 was profoundly painful for her.
Can we give Bernie Sanders what Hillary needed? A few days to get it together? Maybe even a week?
He’ll be marginalized after tomorrow night anyway; the media will all declare Hillary Clinton the nominee, it’ll be historic and huge, and Bernie will be on the sidelines of it all. It is likely that President Obama will endorse Hillary Clinton this week. Our President has been waiting very patiently to do so.
But let’s also give Bernie some time to absorb the new reality and to move toward concession, admission of defeat. It took Hillary several days, and I repeat, many of us assumed the worst about her in those few days. “Now we see what she’s really like, she will destroy the party with her vindictiveness, her vengefulness, and her runaway ego.” Many posters in here were saying shit like that, and it turned out to be preposterously untrue and unfair. Months later, Clinton (as we all know) actually brought the historic vote forward FOR Obama at the DNC Convention. And months after that, Obama asked her to be the US Secretary of State.
This won’t be that scenario, but it does have some twists and turns of its own to come, and it might turn out a lot less ugly than many are thinking. Give Bernie some days to regroup, and consider the full picture here.
I’m excited for tomorrow night, I’m stoked to do all we can do to elect President Hillary Clinton and to make gains in Senate and House races. And I’m also mindful that Clinton herself was in a very different spot eight years ago, and that her eloquence and grace in conceding came only after a long hard fight.. and then some silence.
Let’s allow some patience in this thing. We can afford it. November 6 is five full months away. Hillary is a historic, eminently qualified, and superb candidate -- and she’s gonna stomp Trump like a grape!
Thanks.