--- title: Bernie Sanders Was Hillary Clinton's Ralph Nader description: The Senator forced the Democratic nominee too far to the left, making her focus on special interests instead of a unified vision canonical: https://time.com/4569766/bernie-sanders-ralph-nader-2016/ author: Gil Troy article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-14T15:52:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:31.370Z article:section: Ideas og:title: And the 2016 Ralph Nader Award Goes to... Bernie Sanders og:description: Sanders distracted Hillary Clinton from creating a unified vision for the future og:url: https://time.com/4569766/bernie-sanders-ralph-nader-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66bfa29a74e625e5/6988ae770a4a2257769cc0d0/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton,Bernie Sanders og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: And the 2016 Ralph Nader Award Goes to... Bernie Sanders twitter:description: Sanders distracted Hillary Clinton from creating a unified vision for the future twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66bfa29a74e625e5/6988ae770a4a2257769cc0d0/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # And the 2016 Ralph Nader Award Goes to... 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Inside Bernie Sanders Supporters' Last Stand [Watch (HLS stream): Inside Bernie Sanders Supporters' Last Stand](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7sYkQW1v.m3u8) (6:37)  _Published 2016-07-29. What was supposed to be a unifying week for the Democratic Party, culminating in the historic nomination of a woman for president, instead was beset by anguish and protests as Bernie Sanders’ faithful refused to accept Clinton’s victory._ by [Gil Troy](https://time.com/author/gil-troy/) ## Gil Troy Nov 14, 2016 3:52 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders appear at a rally at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 3, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders appear at a rally at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 3, 2016. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Gil Troy](https://time.com/author/gil-troy/) ## Gil Troy Nov 14, 2016 3:52 PM UTC On Election Day, [Senator Bernie Sanders](http://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/) earned the 2016 “[Ralph Nader](http://time.com/4364732/ralph-nader-bernie-sanders-primary/) Award” for the Leftist Most Responsible for Helping Republicans Win the Presidency. True, [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4566063/how-will-donald-trump-govern/) cleverly exploited voters’ frustrations. And [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4565978/how-hillary-clinton-lost/)’s campaign in 2016 was as rigid and empty as it was when she lost in 2008\. Still, Sanders helped Clinton lose. His insurgency pushed her too far left to prevent an effective re-centering in the fall, while goading her into wooing different constituencies rather than uniting the nation. In fairness, Sanders ran a surprisingly effective campaign tapping the same anti-establishment fury Donald Trump stirred. Although Sanders and Trump are very different, their campaigns were not. Each treated Hillary Clinton as a compromised, Wall Street–worshipping, Establishment sellout. Both demonized Washington insiders and free trade, rather than tackling the real structural problem: the United States deindustrialized because Americans refuse to pay what it costs to hire American workers and instead buy cheaper imported products. As a result, just as Ralph Nader siphoned tens of thousands of votes on Election Day 2000 in Florida from Al Gore, causing the deadlock and George W. Bush’s victory, Bernie Sanders’ similar vampire effect enfeebled Hillary Clinton. This dynamic followed a classic historical pattern. Sanders drew Clinton from the center toward the Democrats’ extreme flank. That shift paralleled Jimmy Carter’s leftward lurch when Ted Kennedy ran in 1980, and [George H.W. Bush](http://time.com/4538329/george-hw-bush-letter-bill-clinton-donald-trump/)’s rightwing swerve when Pat Buchanan rebelled in 1992\. Each time, the frontrunners felt forced to placate loyalists they should have been able to take for granted, while embracing extreme positions that haunted them during the general election campaign. This year replayed that Insurgent’s Vampire Effect. Clinton expected to inherit the nomination without serious opponents. Joe Biden and John Kerry, each of whom sees a potential president whenever he looks in the mirror, didn’t run, deferring to the Clintons’ power in the party and to Hillary Clinton’s claim that it was “our time” as women to win the presidency—an appeal that, surprisingly, bored younger women. As an independent, Sanders lacked such loyalty. His hip campaign addressed the displaced and disempowered, claiming Hillary Clinton was the problem not the solution. In response, Hillary Clinton channeled Walter Mondale in 1984, desperately appealing to different special interests. Characteristically, after winning Super Tuesday, she [declared](http://time.com/4244178/super-tuesday-hillary-clinton-victory-speech-transcript-full-text/): “We have to defend all our rights—workers’ rights, and women’s rights, civil rights and voting rights, LGBT rights and rights for people with disabilities.” This pluralistic appeal failed to offer a unifying national mission. It illustrated Donald Trump’s complaint that Democrats were so busy kowtowing to minorities they neglected the white majority and the nation’s need for consensus. Having catered to the millennial and minority sensibility in the spring, Hillary Clinton missed the mainstream, failing to recalibrate for the fall. This misread was most apparent in her neglect of her greatest political ally, Bill Clinton, and his legacy. In the 1990s, President Clinton shrewdly led from the center, forging a “Third Way” progressivism more balanced than the big-government, special interest group-oriented liberalism which Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush handily defeated in the 1980s. Clintonite centrism embraced free trade as bringing prosperity not exporting jobs. Clinton fought crime, framing it as threat to all Americans, especially blacks. Clinton reformed welfare to restore governmental credibility and recipients’ dignity. Clinton talked candidly about restructuring the economy while rebuilding traditional culture, because too many Americans felt they were “living in the funhouse.” Pressed by the Sanders Sensation, intimidated by Black Lives Matter, even Bill Clinton backpedaled, apologizing for fighting crime and his centrist legacy. With no one explaining how bad crime was in the 1990s, how dysfunctional the welfare system was, how two-thirds of blacks supported both initiatives, Clinton’s legislation seemed draconian. Hillary Clinton became a doughnut candidate, sprinkling sweets to particular groups but lacking any core. That distortion made her the perfect foil for Donald Trump’s demagoguery. Sanders liberals considered Clintonian centrism not liberal enough, not minority-sensitive enough, not pure enough. The result is a president-elect hostile to liberalism, unafraid of demonizing minorities and epitomizing a killer instinct that makes Clintonian triangulation look naïve. All this makes Bernie Sanders the Ralph Nader of 2016. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Hillary Clinton came out of Philadelphia with a history of win, the first female nominee of the major political party. But something else happened at the Democratic Convention that could affect the general election and the future of the Democratic Party. And I vote that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party. [ APPLAUSE ] Running for President of the United States. [ APPLAUSE ] For many of Bernie Sanders' most committed supporters, defeat still didn't seem real until the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. [ INAUDIBLE ] On the streets and in the convention hall, a deep suspicion of the democratic establishment and Hillary Clinton broke into the open. Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders! Hilary, you can not lie to us. Bernie supporters, we see through you. We don't care about political facts. Do you understand? We don't our own research. We've rather have four years of a buffoon than eight years of a genocidal corporate war It's about continuing the fight that he started, and we can't do that if we keep giving the corrupt system what they want. Together we will? Shut it down! Together we [ CROSSTALK ] I did not participate in any of the protest here, I felt like our job inside was to be the delegates, was to cast the votes, and I feel like the people outside really had a purpose to spread the message, to express that anger, sadness, joy, whatever they were feeling, in that moment Further increasing tensions, Democratic Party emails reveal that many top officials favored Clinton over Sanders, a suspicion that many Sanders supporters held all along. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] When the gavel rang in the first day, spontaneous protest broke out in a rare show of disunion Within defines. Some of the unrest subsided when Sanders publicly threw his support behind content. Thank you. [ SOUND ] I love you Bernie. [ SOUND ] I understand That many people are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think it's fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight Thank you all very much. He's with her. He's with her. Initial roll call of all of our delegations. Still, when Clinton officially took the nomination on Tuesday. Hillary. For Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton. For President of the United States. Dozens of Sanders' delegates walked out en masse. [ SOUND ] This is what democracy looks like! [ SOUND ] We're not just here to celebrate the coronation of Hillary Clinton. We're here to push for change. National Nurses United endorsed Bernie. We haven not changed our position. There was that moment on Tuesday where we were like this person who absolutely love who we think would be a phenomenal president is not going to be president. You cannot prepare for that kind of heartbreak when you put so much time and effort into something you believe so strongly in. I vote for Bernie Sanders. And then it doesn't happen. Even though you know in the back of your mind that the delegate count wasn't there it still is so heart breaking . >> [ APPLAUSE ] We all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders supporters have been during this election. [ APPLAUSE ] I knew coming here that there would be this pressure to unify as Democrats behind a candidate, and I really wasn't ready to unify. That's right, feel the Bern. When he said, yeah, Feel the burn. It was such a great moment for us. It was the first time while we were here that we really felt like, wow somebody actually cares. [ MUSIC ] And it was the first moment in the entire part of the The convention where I was like okay. I'm going to start opening my ears a little bit more and I'm going to approach people differently when I talk to these other delegates. There has never been a man or woman, not me, not Bill, nobody more qualified than Hilary Clinton To serve as the president of the United States of America. I have to work out in my mind some of these questions. But in the end, I'm gonna vote for Hillary. Because the other person which I will not mention, scares the hell out of me. I will probably. Take the leap and vote for Hillary. I can't stomach the idea of Donald Trump being President. I'm a Florida delegate like I said before, so that means I live in a swing state my vote, really it's important and I will vote for Hillary. Because I do not want there to be a Trump. Presidency. [ APPLAUSE ] And so, my friends, it is with humility, determination and boundless confidence in America's promise that I accept your nomination for President of the United States! I recognize this is a monumental moment. My best friend's daughter was in tears knowing that one day she can grow up and maybe be the president. I want her to walk the walk. She says she's gonna do these things. I want her to do them. We have to stay in this process to ensure that she actually follows through with the The things that she said she was going to do. While the large majority of Sanders supporters say in polls, and in the streets, they are ready to support Clinton in order to beat Donald Trump, the discord in Philadelphia showed that Sanders' political revolution will not end quietly. You put economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong. Our country needs your idea, energy, and passion. We wrote it together. Now let's go out and make it happen together. [ APPLAUSE ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4569766/bernie-sanders-ralph-nader-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4569766/bernie-sanders-ralph-nader-2016/"},"headline":"And the 2016 Ralph Nader Award Goes to... 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