The sheer obsession of it all.
So many years, eye on the prize with a single-mindedness that few can even begin to imagine.
Every position, every vote, a calculation made knowing this day would come.
It's not healthy. It's not human.
Perhaps the earliest sign of the pandering is seen in 1963, participating in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, calling for civil and economic rights for African Americans. Imagine! He knew. He knew that 53 years later, most Americans would think this was a good thing, and he knew it would help his political career.
His record is littered with decisions made with the steely precision of a political automaton:
Voting for marriage equality two decades ago!
Voting against the Patriot Act!
Voting against the liberation of Iraq just because it was an astonishingly dumb idea based on obvious lies!
Filibustering the extension of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, with his clever (and doubtless poll-tested) "Enough is enough! How many homes can you own?"
Yes, Senator Sanders, enough is enough! Americans can spot a sad little striver like you, a poseur who almost always votes the right way, and we REJECT IT.
NO!
I think I speak for most Americans when I say we want the REAL DEAL, a person we can relate to, someone who occasionally makes mistakes, who sometimes has a hair or two out of place, and who respectfully waits to change their mind on issues until most other Americans have already done so.
So go back to your lofty perch in the Green Mountains, cavorting with ice cream royalty and scheming with that stiff-necked Senator from that pinko Commonwealth on your southern border.
JUST GO AWAY, MR. SANDERS. YOUR UNRELENTING EXCELLENCE IS UNWELCOME IN THESE PARTS.
Regards,
Incredibly-Progressive-Yet-Realistic Manny