We've seen a recent dust-up between Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over what he might or might not have said to her two years ago when they were discussing the 2020 presidential race. The early coverage had only allegations from their campaigns. Warren staff claimed Sanders told her a woman couldn't win in 2020. His campaign staff denounced that as a lie. Soon enough, Sanders was ardently denying it, and Warren was confirming it had happened.
My husband is their Democratic colleague, and so I know both Sanders and Warren, and respect both of them, which only makes this harder, it seems. Fortunately, after a brief exchange about this on Tuesday's debate stage, they seemed eager to move on. There's a man in the White House to defeat, you understand.
This does not seem to be true of many of Sanders' followers. Dare to express the slightest doubt about their candidate or, far worse, support someone else, and they will circle like vultures over roadkill. They can save their energy. We've been through this before, and their aggression is lost on women like me.
None of this is happening in a vacuum. There is a bigger discussion to have about why, in 2020, we're still talking about the electability of a woman. Yet, so many want to derail it.
Some dismiss Sanders' alleged comment as just an echo of the same conversations going on in Democratic circles around the country. Sure. Many feminists who've been my friends for decades have told me they worry a woman can't win in 2020. This is fear speaking, and it's laser-focused not on the candidates but on the history of the voting public. We talk it through and hash out the what-ifs. But a woman running for president surely hears this message differently. It feels personal because it is, and can we please not lose sight of this difference?
And, yes, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016. Yet, she isn't president, is she? Why do we have to keep explaining why this doesn't feel like a victory for women?
Some have wanted to know why Warren didn't mention the exchange with Sanders sooner. Where've we heard that before?
