Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders War of Words is Heating Up

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are essentially tied in the polls, and the war of words between the two is beginning to heat up.

by Joey Clark

Democracy seems to have finally broken out in the Democratic Party.

For the longest time, the Democratic primary has felt more like an interminable coronation of Hillary Clinton (with the help of the DNC) and less like a robust, competitive contest for the Presidency. Democrats pride themselves on their unity and solidarity as a party, but this herd impulse was bound to backfire and eventually crack up. There is only so much the voters will accept when it comes to having an establishment candidate shoved down their throats, and the populist fervor–having stewed for sometime now–is overflowing into the establishment halls of power.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are now essentially tied in the polls. The Clinton camp is prepared to go on the offensive, but this may be the moment Senator Sanders was waiting for all along.

“Secretary Clinton and her campaign now know that she is in serious trouble,” Sanders recently said on the trail, “Suddenly, Bernie Sanders is no longer a nice guy! And he’s wrong on this. And he’s wrong on that. And he’s wrong on that. That is not surprising when you have a Clinton campaign that is now in trouble and now understands that they can lose.”

Clinton is attacking Sanders for being soft on guns as well as impractical on healthcare with his “Medicare” for all plan. Sanders is reminding people he voted against the war in Iraq and has long been a thorn in the side of the moneyed plutocracy–much longer and more genuinely than any claim Hillary Clinton can make.

Where this war of words will take the two and the Democratic party is unclear. 7 out of 10 Democratic voters think Clinton will get the nomination in the end, but Hillary still has the shadow of a major FBI investigation hanging over her head. The slow drip-drip-drip of news of a possible indictment can only hurt Clinton’s trustworthiness and likeability with the public more and more.

In the end, this outbreak of democracy in the Democratic Party may just be a sad opening act before the Hillary Clinton show in the general election. But at least we can enjoy the farce for now, hoping it may very well end up as a tragedy for Clinton and the Democratic establishment.