“We accept $27 donations, too, you know,” were Hillary Clinton’s parting words to the supporters of a man whose money-raising machine ran her closer than anyone expected to the Democratic nomination.
By and large, it was taken in good humour. But the transactional tone of Tuesday’s joint rally with Bernie Sanders was as evident as the undoubted spirit of unity which both candidates also brought to their uplifting reconciliation rally.
Much of what Sanders has succeeded in extracting in return from the Clinton policy team in the days leading up to his endorsement will not have been that painful, either.
The movement toward means-tested free tuition at public colleges is more than she originally proposed and less than he promised, but not a million miles away from what either of them probably hope is possible if Democrats win back Congress.
Similarly, the small steps toward Sanders-style public healthcare now offered by the former secretary of state are in keeping with her recent incrementalism in the face of the Republican fury over Obama’s Affordable Care Act, but also hark back to the dream Clinton once had as first lady.
“Please join this campaign, make it your own,” she added to the progressive crowd in New Hampshire. “You will always have a seat at the table when I am in the White House.”
For Sanders too, this was a low-cost concession. Though his endorsement of Clinton was clear and unequivocal, he went out with his head held high. He has still not formally dropped out of the race – keeping open his campaign machinery as they head to a convention in Philadelphia where policy is still to play for.
To his supporters in the crowd, the newfound pragmatism was at times hard to swallow but in the main, well received.
“I am so glad that Bernie stayed in it as long as he did, to keep pushing the agenda to something more progressive,” said Jim Schliestett, a Sanders delegate who had traveled from Eliot, Maine, for the event.
“Free tuition for middle-class families? Well, I think it should be free for everybody. Greater commitment to healthcare, including a public option? Of course I believe we should have a national health system. But I think it is meaningful movement that would not have happened if Bernie had not stayed in as long as he did.”
Partly the transaction was made easier by the increasingly toxic state of politics in the rest of America.
Amid national outrage over police shootings of African Americans and a disturbing backlash on the streets of Dallas, it is hard to imagine even died-in-the-wool Sandernistas pursuing the fiction that their candidate was still in the running for the nomination.
“There is too much division,” said Schliestett. “To try to even prolong it another couple of weeks would not have felt right. The timing is right. It was very graceful.”
Trump’s threat, though diminished to the point where a highly progressive Clinton platform carries less risk, also serves as a unifier.
“It’s much easier to come together in the face of such an obvious negative force,” added the Maine delegate.
Yet there was also a clear understanding that the bargain struck between the Clinton and Sanders campaigns in recent days only goes so far.
He will enthusiastically endorse and campaign for her. She will genuinely take on board many of his ideas and tactics. But that does mean that the Sanders revolution simply fizzles away?
“It’s not an either or. What started with this campaign is going to have major resonance beyond this particular election cycle and that’s what I am excited about,” said Schliestett.
A small hardcore group of supporters will refuse to follow their leader down this temporary path of compromise, whatever he might tell them about the policy concessions extracted.
“I can’t vote for her,” insisted a defiant Carmeline Farteuss, a once staunch Democratic voter who had travelled from Vermont for the event and left before Clinton spoke. “Even though she would be the first woman president, I know enough about her that I would never vote for her.”
“I am sad. But I love [Sanders] for ever,” she added. “He has done a lot to disclose how corrupt the [Democratic party] is and for that I am for ever grateful. We need a third party. I cannot go for the lesser of two evils any more. I am done with this stuff.”
