Relitigating the 2016 Election: How Can You Vote For Someone You Won’t Endorse?
Note: This story originally appeared on my blog on June 24, 2016.
2nd Note: “Relitigating the 2016 Election” is a series of the contemporaneous blog posts that I wrote in the lead up to the 2016 election. As these posts reflect my views at that time, they have not been updated.
A few short hours ago, first runner-up in the Democratic race for the nomination, Bernie Sanders, stated that he likely would vote for Hillary Clinton in November but would not endorse her candidacy.
Huh?
While I expect a certain degree of double talk from politicians, Sanders’ bizarre pronouncement has me scratching my pretty little head. Voting for a candidate implies a certain amount of support for the candidate’s agenda. Endorsing a candidate also implies a certain level of support for the candidate’s agenda. That being said, how can a voter do one but not the other?
To put it simply, a voter can’t. And, as intelligent as Sanders is, I am sure he knows that. So why make the statement in the first place?
Maybe Sanders, having lost the nomination, is trying to force Clinton and the Democratic Party further to the left by withholding an official endorsement. Or maybe he’s trying to squelch talk that he is trying to play spoiler by offering (half-hearted) support of Clinton.
Whatever his actual motivations, my feeling is that Sanders is most likely going to write his own name on the ballot come November.
