Bernie Sanders has yet to formally concede to Hillary Clinton in the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate of the US. He has said that “in all likelihood” he will vote for Clinton, but this is very far from a ringing endorsement and leaves open a lot of room for fierce debate at the party convention in July over the Democrat’s manifesto. The reason Sanders is being so coy about giving up campaigning is that he wants to maintain the momentum of his broad-based campaign on a range of issues such as instituting a minimum wage right into the convention. He wants to “make sure that the Democratic Party not only has the most progressive platform in the history of the party, but that the platform is actually implemented by elected officials”. If he succeeds he may bring large numbers of people back into mainstream politics who previously stood aloof from elections.
During the campaign Sanders spoke in a far more balanced manner than any other presidential candidate throughout the years about the need for peace in Palestine as a matter of justice for the Palestinian people, rather than an imperative for Israeli security. He did well to break the unwritten rule that candidates only talk about their support for Israel while keeping silent on Palestine. It was very refreshing that a serious candidate was able to speak about the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, referring to a landscape of “decimated houses, decimated health care, decimated schools” adding that the US must help the Palestinian people. He is right about that and if he brings the issue to the Convention he will have done well.
