Bernie Sanders stirred up a storm of protest among Democrats when he made his rash statement about Hillary Clinton being "unqualified" to be president. It was a step over the line -- and he quickly realized it.Since then, he has done his best to walk the remark back, and assure Democrats that he will support the party's nominee for president.
The truth is that Sanders and Clinton agree on most issues, and the few issues they disagree on doesn't disqualify either one from the office of president. Democrats are in the process of choosing who they want to represent them. They are not trying to determine if either is qualified to be president. Both of them are.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Sanders was asked if he had changed his mind about supporting the Democratic nominee -- and he said:
“Nope, and I assume that Secretary Clinton would give you the same answer. … Look, as I’ve said before, on her worst day, she is 100 times better than Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or the other candidates. To me, that is not a very hard choice.”
Then in an interview with Charlie Rose for CBS News, he again assured Democrats he would support the nominee, saying:
“Sure I will. Look, as I said a million times, I think the idea of a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. I will do everything in my power and work as hard as I can to make sure that that does not happen. And if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, I will certainly support her.”
And then on the Today Show he said:
"On her worst day, she would be an infinitely better president than either of the Republican candidates."
It is clear that he regrets making that silly statement, and now it is time to put it behind us and move on. It is also time to shelve the silly notion that Sanders might run an independent campaign for president (as some supporters want him to do). That's not going to happen. Sanders is a Democrat (at least for the duration of this presidential campaign), and he will support the nominee of the party. His supporters should do the same.
(NOTE -- The photo of Bernie Sanders, by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, is from the Business Insider.)
