So... About That Unicorn.

I know there were a lot of people who would have voted for the unicorn this election. That surefire, guaranteed win that was Bernie Sanders. And trust me - Hillary has been a walking national controversy since before Bill took his crooked pecker to the Oral Office. I would have loved to vote for someone other than her, but not because of the controversies. Despite all the noise and debunked scandals, Hillary is inarguably brilliant and has a track record of public service. So what if it's not impeccable? She was fully qualified to be president. My initial opposition to Hillary was simply the fact that I don't like the concept of family dynasties in the presidency. The Bush family cemented it for me - Shrub's personal vendetta to finish his daddy's war at all costs, using whatever excuse he could to re-engage in Iraq, was ten bridges too far for me. So going into this cycle, I was looking for an alternative. The pickins were slim from the git go. Martin O'Malley was a nice enough guy, but I can picture him considering The Carpenters "acid rock". Bernie looked intriguing, drew big crowds, and was getting the young voter involved. But as the campaign season wore on, it became clear that Bernie had a very limited message set in his stump speech. And even less detail on how he would accomplish his very aggressive, very PROgressive, agenda. He was a "low ceiling" candidate, as the experts would say. Reflect on this: Republicans left him alone, focusing on Hillary. Why? Simple. They wanted to run against him, not Hillary. They figured that, despite all the controversies, Hillary would bring name recognition, and more importantly, a relationship with the Obama administration that could be leveraged by the '08 & '12 "Obama coalition", which had already beaten the last two Republican candidates (each of which must have been considered stronger than Trump, when it became clear that the nomination was his to lose). In the end, it didn't matter. But that doesn't mean that Bernie would've done better. He would've just lost differently.