We're four days removed from the election, so as is often the case for the losing party, many progressives and Democrats alike are playing the blame game and asking the what ifs. Some are blaming FBI director James Comey. Others are blaming Bernie Sanders. Many are blaming Sanders' die-hard supporters. I can understand the disappointment and frustration. Trust me, I feel similarly. But while it's perfectly understandable to try and find a scapegoat for the disappointing results, we have to acknowledge the fact that there's plenty of blame to go around.
I, for one, voted for Bernie Sanders in the Ohio Democratic Primary. I feel the man is a progressive hero and was better suited electorally to win a third consecutive term for the Democrats in the White House. But Hillary Clinton won the party's nomination and I was forced to choose between her and Donald Trump for president (sorry, but I wasn't going to waste my vote on either Jill Stein or Gary Johnson). To me, it really wasn't a choice at all. It was the epitome of "no-brainers." My two options were: A) An individual with 30 years experience in the field and numerous accomplishments along the way or B) An individual with absolutely no experience in the field and more lawsuits on his hands currently than there are states. Yes, I went with A). In conjunction with these major professional disparities, many declared Donald Trump's campaign to be the worst in U.S. history, and Hillary Clinton had a fairly healthy lead in the polls leading up to election day. So, what happened? What went wrong?
Like I said, there's plenty of blame to go around. Hillary Clinton had been dominating in the polls prior to James Comey's big announcement, but while he definitely put a stop to Clinton's momentum, it's difficult to ultimately say lost the election for her. Bernie Sanders certainly had some harsh words for Clinton during the Democratic Primaries, but he joined ship when the race was over and emphatically told his supporters to elect her as the next president. So again, he and his supporters may have played a minor role in Tuesday's results, but it's difficult to pin all the blame on them. Two parties I think need to take more responsibility for this upset are Democratic leaders and Democratic voters. Democratic leaders took too many votes for granted. Instead of focusing on what Hillary Clinton would do to help progress this nation and improve people's lives, they focused most of their attention going negative on Donald Trump. They thought this would result in record turnout among Latinos. They took other minorities' votes for granted as well, blacks in particular. Instead of making certain they upheld what's been known as the "blue wall," they took several such states as certain victories and spent more money in typically red states, which stayed red on Tuesday. The strategy of Democratic leaders failed on multiple fronts and that played a definite factor in the disappointing results on Tuesday night. Democratic voters have to share some of the blame too. As of today, just 54% of eligible voters partook in this election, which leaves 46% who didn't vote. Donald Trump didn't provide a voting surge for the Republican Party this year. Democrats simply didn't show up to support their candidate, Hillary Clinton. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, earned 60,933,504 votes, falling short to President Barack Obama, who earned 65,915,795 votes. To this point, Donald Trump has earned 60,265,858 votes, almost 700,000 fewer than Romney, while Hillary Clinton has earned 60,839.922 votes, about 5 million fewer than Obama. Democrats can point their fingers wherever they'd like, but when it all comes down to it, we only have ourselves to blame. Let's use this as a learning moment and make sure this never happens again.
I, for one, voted for Bernie Sanders in the Ohio Democratic Primary. I feel the man is a progressive hero and was better suited electorally to win a third consecutive term for the Democrats in the White House. But Hillary Clinton won the party's nomination and I was forced to choose between her and Donald Trump for president (sorry, but I wasn't going to waste my vote on either Jill Stein or Gary Johnson). To me, it really wasn't a choice at all. It was the epitome of "no-brainers." My two options were: A) An individual with 30 years experience in the field and numerous accomplishments along the way or B) An individual with absolutely no experience in the field and more lawsuits on his hands currently than there are states. Yes, I went with A). In conjunction with these major professional disparities, many declared Donald Trump's campaign to be the worst in U.S. history, and Hillary Clinton had a fairly healthy lead in the polls leading up to election day. So, what happened? What went wrong?
Like I said, there's plenty of blame to go around. Hillary Clinton had been dominating in the polls prior to James Comey's big announcement, but while he definitely put a stop to Clinton's momentum, it's difficult to ultimately say lost the election for her. Bernie Sanders certainly had some harsh words for Clinton during the Democratic Primaries, but he joined ship when the race was over and emphatically told his supporters to elect her as the next president. So again, he and his supporters may have played a minor role in Tuesday's results, but it's difficult to pin all the blame on them. Two parties I think need to take more responsibility for this upset are Democratic leaders and Democratic voters. Democratic leaders took too many votes for granted. Instead of focusing on what Hillary Clinton would do to help progress this nation and improve people's lives, they focused most of their attention going negative on Donald Trump. They thought this would result in record turnout among Latinos. They took other minorities' votes for granted as well, blacks in particular. Instead of making certain they upheld what's been known as the "blue wall," they took several such states as certain victories and spent more money in typically red states, which stayed red on Tuesday. The strategy of Democratic leaders failed on multiple fronts and that played a definite factor in the disappointing results on Tuesday night. Democratic voters have to share some of the blame too. As of today, just 54% of eligible voters partook in this election, which leaves 46% who didn't vote. Donald Trump didn't provide a voting surge for the Republican Party this year. Democrats simply didn't show up to support their candidate, Hillary Clinton. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, earned 60,933,504 votes, falling short to President Barack Obama, who earned 65,915,795 votes. To this point, Donald Trump has earned 60,265,858 votes, almost 700,000 fewer than Romney, while Hillary Clinton has earned 60,839.922 votes, about 5 million fewer than Obama. Democrats can point their fingers wherever they'd like, but when it all comes down to it, we only have ourselves to blame. Let's use this as a learning moment and make sure this never happens again.
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