Tired Gladiators

The two candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination squared off last night in Brooklyn and traded sharp jabs at what they perceived as their opponent's weaknesses, but some of it sounded like a spat between Ma and Pa Kettle about who was going to take out the garbage.  After months on the campaign trail, 68 year old Hillary and 74 year old Bernie looked like America's grandparents and probably felt like it too after punching and counterpunching on CNN.   The partisans on either side felt their candidate had the best of the exchanges.  Hillary had no good answer to her close ties to Wall Street and Bernie's disastrous Daily News interview called into question his mastery of the details of foreign and economic policy.  Meanwhile, Bernie's handlers cite his wins in the last eight caucuses as proof he should be considered the front-runner.  Unfortunately, the combined population of the states he won is just a hair more than that of New York and with the proportional allocation of delegates, a Hillary win will put Bernie in a nearly untenable position.  He has the money to continue to run, but the demographic he appeals to, namely young white progressives is not nearly enough to overcome Hillary's broader appeal to older voters, blacks, latinos and women.  I hope Bernie continues to push her farther to the left and makes the Democratic platform something all progressives can be proud of.  But we need him to make a commitment to support all Democratic candidates and build an organization which will retake the Senate and make inroads into the Republican house majority.  That will be a legacy he can be proud of.