Hillary Clinton won

Rss@dailykos.com (laurence Lewis) · Sunday, June 12, 2016, 1:21 pm

When Sen. Barack Obama clinched the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, he did not have enough pledged delegates to win. He led Sen. Hillary Clinton by just over 100 pledged delegates, and needed the votes of super delegates to put him over the victory margin. The senators’ popular vote totals were nearly tied. Within days, she had called and congratulated him and publicly announced she was supporting him. At his convention, she released her delegates and called for him to be nominated by acclamation. That's how one accepts defeat with dignity and class. That's how one brings the party together.

In 2008, no one said Sen. Obama had cheated or that the system was rigged. No one said he had to reach out to Sen. Clinton's supporters. No one said he had to accept her agenda. No one said it was her right to try to force her agenda at his convention. No one questioned that it was his convention, least of all her. The onus was on her to lead the healing by accepting that he had won and that his agenda had won. She met that challenge without flinching. She met it with grace. The party healed. Those who refused to be part of that healing drew no support from Sen. Clinton. Their petulance stood in defiance of her own words and actions.

This year's nomination battle was not close. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders by nearly 4 million votes and nearly 400 pledged delegates. And yet, somehow, some in the media and many in the Sanders camp again are trying to place the burden of healing on her. She is the first woman ever to win the presidential nomination of a major American political party, and even in decisive victory her historic achievement cannot be recognized for what it is. It must be diminished. This is shameful and inexcusable, but it is not unexpected.

Hillary Clinton doesn't owe Bernie Sanders or his supporters anything that she doesn't owe all Americans. And what she owes all Americans is to be the best possible president she can be. That's it. She won. Her agenda won. Bernie Sanders and his supporters can accept the expressed will of the Democratic Party electorate or not. That's on them, not her. If Sanders and his supporters truly believe in democratic socialism, they will prove it by accepting the decisive results of democracy. If they truly believe in the issues they claim to champion, they will prove it by supporting the only remaining candidate who can make progress on those issues rather than regressing on them. Their proving will be in their doing.

There are increasing indications that Sanders himself is ready to step up. He says he will do all he can to defeat Donald Trump. He expressed appreciation that President Obama did not put his thumb on the scale of the Democratic nomination contest, and in that tacitly acknowledged that Clinton beat him on her own. His intentions will become fully clear after the District of Columbia ends the primary voting cycle, but it appears he is ready to step up. And if he steps up, we will find out if his supporters truly respect his leadership by doing the same.

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