Way back in 2009, I wrote a piece about something called "the permanent campaign." I can't find it. Honestly, I don't even remember who I wrote it for. To sum it up, Howard Dean was running around telling everyone who'd listen that President Obama had a bold plan to never stop campaigning. Rather than shutting down his winning electoral machine, he was going to fold its workers into a new endeavor called "organizing for action." They'd keep campaigning for him throughout his presidency and, in theory anyway, be ready to support whoever the next Democrat nominee was.
I thought it sounded like a completely horrible future where we'd all end up in an infinite political Mobius strip.
You can see Dean talking about it here:
In reality, this wasn't really a "new" thing. Carter advisor Pat Caddell coined the term way back in the 70's. However, Dean & Co. planned to - in the parlance of Spinal Tap - turn it up to 11. Obviously, it didn't do much to help Hillary. However, it did help Obama push his agenda, and it helped him get re-elected in 2012.
Unfortunately, familiarity breeds contempt. Watching this interminable spectacle has been exhausting. It's also turning voters off, and it's making everyone hate politicians more than they already do.
Bernie Sanders, a guy who's almost never right about anything, has noticed this. He's pushing a book full of his crackpot notions, and (because the campaign is never supposed to end) he keeps getting asked about 2020. He is, rightfully, sick of it.
Watch as Bernie lands on the correct side of an issue - possibly for the first and last time in his entire life:
As Bernie says,
"the media never ever gives up, and instead of focusing on real issues they keep talking about never-ending campaigns. Chris, honestly you've heard me say this to you before.
...We never stop elections. People are sick and tired of it. They want me to go back to Washington to deal with climate change, to deal with health care, to deal with education, to deal with issues that impact their lives. They do not want to see never-ending elections."
I can't believe I'm going to write this but... Well said, Bernie. Your socialist positions are uniformly idiotic, but you're 100% right about this.
