Keller @ Large: Bernie Sanders, The Unlikely Savior
BOSTON (CBS) - It was a long day Monday for the Democratic Party establishment.
It started with the resignation and exile of Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, over disclosure of the disgraceful collusion against Bernie Sanders she and other party hacks were engaged in.
It continued with a night of booing and heckling by some Sanders supporters on the floor of the convention. And by the time Sanders took the stage, there was the very real possibility that the takeaway from day one would be that of a badly divided party.
But then Sanders stepped to the podium.
"This election is not about and has never been about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders," he said, before reciting a string of comparisons between Clinton and Trump on core Democratic coalition issues like the minimum wage, climate change and health care.
The Sanders campaign was always about pressing an agenda, and making the establishment respond to it. He did that more successfully than anyone expected during the campaign. And now that the nomination was Clinton's, he did what any reality-based politician would do - emphatically rallied behind her against an opponent who is clearly anathema to his ideas.
By doing so, Sanders stayed true to his beliefs while securing a measure of clout to continue his fight. If he keeps it up and she wins, he will be a bigger factor in the Senate than ever before.
That's how our system works - you get half a loaf, and come back later for the other half. Sanders gets that, and he kept Monday from being much worse than it could have been for his party.