Is Bernie Sanders the Sheepdog?

We can be pretty certain that Martin O'Malley is only in the Democratic run for president so we can pretend there's really a choice of candidates*, but what about Bernie Sanders? Why is he there?

This is how the Bernie Sanders show ends, as the left-leaning warm-up act for Hillary Clinton.

[...]

When Bernie folds his tent in the summer of 2016, the money, the hopes and prayers, the year of activist zeal that folks put behind Bernie Sanders either vanishes into thin air, or directly benefits the Hillary Clinton campaign.

[...]

The sheepdog's job is to divert the energy and enthusiasm of activists [...] away from building an alternative to the Democratic party, and into his doomed effort. When the sheepdog inevitably folds in the late spring or early summer before a November election, there's no time remaining to win ballot access for alternative parties or candidates, no time to raise money or organize any effective challenge to the two capitalist parties.

[...]

[L]eftish Democrat voters are always disregarded when Democrats actually win. Bill Clinton gave us NAFTA, a vicious “welfare reform,” no peace dividend or push for DC statehood, lowered unemployment but mostly in part time and low-wage jobs, and mass incarceration of black and brown people. President Obama doubled down on bailouts of banksters and GM, and immunized them from prosecution but failed to address the most catastrophic fall in black household wealth in history. We got health care for some instead of Medicare for All, the Patriot Act renewed instead of repealed, a race to privatize public education, drone wars and still more mass incarceration of black and brown people. And if President Obama gets his way, we may soon have a global job-destroying wage-lowering NAFTA on steroids, with the TTP and TTIP.

  Black Agenda Report

That was written last summer. Since then, Bernie seems to have been making great strides, forcing Clinton to push attacks that may be backfiring.  At this particular moment, at least, it doesn't look like he will be folding in "late spring or early summer."

Also, was Barack Obama intended to be the sheepdog in 2008? If so, that didn't work out the way it was intended.

Still, Bernie needs to back off that promise to throw his support - and therefore, his supporters - to Clinton in the event he doesn't "win" the Democratic nomination, and stand up and run like an actual contender, if indeed he is one.

And there's one last hurdle to be considered  going into the convention...

But then, maybe Bernie doesn't even really want to be president.  And you could hardly blame him for that.

*

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.