Independent Social turned Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is burning through Hillary Clinton’s lead in New Hampshire and looks poised to unseat her as the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2016.
However, his leadership skills on the campaign trail, particularly during two recent rallies along the West Coast, show that Sanders has his work cut out for him in coalescing the minority vote as his predecessor Barack Obama had done for his two election campaigns.
After protests twice derailed campaign events in recent weeks, the Bernie Sanders campaign has asked to meet with Black Lives Matter activists in Washington.
In an email obtained by BuzzFeed News, the campaign’s African-American outreach director, Marcus Ferrell, told a group of activists that Sanders wanted a more formal interaction. As a sitting U.S. senator, the meeting could be arranged as a means of “possibly introducing legislation and making a constitutional change. We would like to know what YOU would like to see happen.”
Strange indeed that Sanders did not pick up the phone or use his pen to reach out to these activist groups. Sanders’ supporters voiced disappointment with his inability to stand up to the #BlackLivesMatter protesters earlier this month.
Now, the Sanders campaign is working damage control and pandering?
Campaigns are rushing to curry favor with Black Lives Matter activists, whose public actions confronting Sanders twice disrupted the campaign, forcing Sanders to more forcefully voice his support of the movement. He has also since announced Symone Sanders, who is a young black woman, as his national press secretary; she was hired after she met with the senator about the activism and criminal justice. Bernie Sanders has also released a comprehensive racial justice platform, referenced by Ferrell in the email.
The key remarks in Ferrell’s email, which indicated an apologetic Sanders lie here:
I am reaching out to you on behalf of our campaign because you are the folks doing the work for Black Lives Matter. I apologize it took our campaign so long to officially reach out.
Despite the plaintive, accommodating tone of Marcus Ferrell’s email, plus the indications that Sanders wanted to make nice with the protesters and the movement, the Vermont Senator immediately denied any need to apologize.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he was not the person who sent an apology email to Black Lives Matter activists and believes an apology is unnecessary.
During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Democratic presidential hopeful was asked about the apology email that BuzzFeed obtained.
"Well, that was sent out by a staffer, not by me," Sanders responded. "Look, we are reaching out to all kinds of groups, absolutely ... But on this issue of Black Lives Matter, let me be very clear. The issue that they are raising is a very, very important issue. And there is no candidate for president who would be stronger in fighting against institutional racism, and by the way, reforming a broken criminal justice system."
Whether Sanders apologized or not, or is hiding behind a campaign manager and now pushing to distance himself from any hint of caving to a loud activist group, Sanders has exposed two key weaknesses in his campaign: a lack of leadership over his staff, and his inability to stand his ground in the face of severe confrontation.
