Bernie Sanders at Safeco Field.
Bernie Sanders at Safeco Field. Alex Garland

As per usual, the media is hardly covering the news of Bernie Sanders' shock comeback victory in the Indiana Democratic primary: The New York Times slotted it below the story of John Kasich pulling out; TV networks didn't carry his victory speech. But it's an important story. Sanders won by outflanking Clinton on the left on the issue of trade, promising to reverse the effects of NAFTA and other neoliberal free-trade pacts on blue-collar workers—the kinds of voters susceptible to the rhetoric of Trump. Fittingly, Sanders won in the home state of the great American socialist Eugene Debs.

I'm glad Sanders won because it builds some momentum for a real fight at the Democratic National Convention over what the party stands for.

But I'm not psyched about his victory because Sanders isn't being honest with his supporters:

As even Kshama Sawant acknowledges, the math and the undemocratic superdelegate system make it virtually impossible for Sanders to win the nomination. He needs to stop conflating political revolution solely with his presidential prospects. This sets up a scenario that extinguishes the momentum his supporters have built up once he finally loses the nomination. (The original Obama campaign did a similar thing: posited his presidential aspirations as the fulcrum of transformative social change, then gave the excitement fueling his campaign no useful outlet once elected.)

Instead, Sanders needs to begin to level with the people all over this country who chipped in with small donations, on a historic scale, to make his candidacy viable in the first place. Sanders needs start talking about how, if he loses the nomination, he believes all these people should use their energy and enthusiasm to do something beyond merely vote for Clinton. (Note: As much as I oppose the corporate capitalism that she represents, people do need to vote for her in swing states come November, as a harm reduction measure to stop Trump from winning).

I don't think, as Sawant does, that running as a third-party candidate is the answer—that's another ultimately doomed strategy. Maybe he needs to start a "Keep Hillary Progressive" organization—a group dedicated to preventing Clinton from flip-flopping back to the right on the economy and the environment (two of the biggest areas where she's completely transformed herself, chameleon-like, in order to defuse the appeal of Sanders). Maybe he should tell his supporters to join Socialist Alternative, or start a Democratic socialism caucus within the Democratic party. Maybe he should call on supporters to go out and join Black Lives Matter chapters across the nation, or join the Next System Project, a group developing a socialism-inspired alternative to capitalism. He should definitely keep highlighting the candidacies of down-ballot movement progressives like Pramila Jayapal. But until he is honest and serious about a viable strategy for "political revolution," outlining some pathway toward institutionalizing and perpetuating the momentum he has built up, I certainly don't want to spend my time or money trying to prop him up. There are far more interesting political battles to fight here at home in Seattle—fights that we need the thousands of Bernie fans who filled local stadiums to see him to get involved with.