I’m proud of Sen. Jeff Merkley for coming out at this stage of the game, when he has a lot more to lose than to gain, and making the decision to endorse Bernie Sanders in the pages of the New York Times. I’m not all that surprised. At this stage of my life, I wouldn’t be interested in working on a senator’s staff, but I’d probably make an exception for Merkley, and probably only for Merkley. I have so much respect for him that I’m hoping that he’ll be Majority Leader someday, although his decision to write this column probably won’t help him in that quest.
The timing is probably designed to give a boost to Sanders in the New York primary, and it may be influenced by Oregonians, who will almost definitely support Sanders in strong numbers on May 17th. What it’s not designed to do is advance Merkley’s career in the Senate or within the Democratic leadership, and that’s what impresses me.
Merkley has absolutely nothing negative to say about Hillary Clinton who, he says, “has a remarkable record [and] would be a strong and capable president.” But he prefers Sanders, and this is why:
He has opposed trade deals with nations that pay their workers as little as a dollar an hour. Such deals have caused good jobs to move overseas and undermined the leverage of American workers to bargain for a fair share of the wealth they create in our remaining factories.
He has passionately advocated for pivoting from fossil fuels to renewable energy to save our planet from global warming — the greatest threat facing humanity. He recognizes that to accomplish this we must keep the vast bulk of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground.
Bernie is a determined leader in taking on the concentration of campaign cash from the mega-wealthy that is corrupting the vision of opportunity embedded in our Constitution.
And he has been unflinching in taking on predatory lending, as well as the threats to our economy from high-risk strategies at our biggest banks.
Merkley doesn’t mention foreign policy, which is interesting, because it’s Clinton’s foreign policy that concerns me the most and prevents me from being comfortable with her nomination. But my point here isn’t that I agree or disagree with Merkley’s decision to endorse or his reasons for doing so.
I simply admire people who take principled positions when it’s obvious that the safer and easier and more career-advancing option is keep quiet or hop on board the winner’s train.
