Why not? Obama put a pretty huge movement tougher only to abandon it after the campaign. So there is precedent. Also if/when sanders concedes and is swallowed up by the Clinton campaign that will do a lot of damage to the movement.
I don't see Sanders being swallowed up by the Clinton campaign. He ran, he said, because he didn't want to see Clinton unopposed. He switched his allegiance from "independent" to "democrat" just so he could. He's always been an oppositional figure, a gadfly in the machine, and just because he (probably) won't win this time doesn't mean he's going to roll over and play dead. I mean, yeah. He's not going to say nice things about Clinton. Already isn't. But he's going to say less nice things about Cruz/Trump/DarkHorseduJour.
Well right now he doesn't have to say nice things about her but if he doesn't win hes going to be expected to tow the party line. Hes likely going to have to come out supporting Clinton in positions that are going to be against the interests of his base. I don't think hes going to be allowed to come out and say that yeah Clinton is shit, I agree, she is bought and paid for by big business and corrupt as hell but the other guy is a crazy loony so vote Clinton. I could be wrong but I don't think that's how politics works. Sanders basically has to either withdraw his presence from 2016 presidential election and re-purpose his movement into local elections or go independent to maintain the movement. Otherwise he will be forced to actively endorse and promote existing Clinton positions which suck and will loose him credibility. VP sanders would also kill the movement because then he would just be a puppet in the Clinton campaign. Basically I think either the movement is re-purposed to support Clinton and it dies (because Clinton excites absolutely nobody) or it needs to be split off from the democratic party and I'm not sure how that would happen. What kind of scenario do you envision that allows the movement to continue on its own?
That's just it, though, dude - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders#Party_affiliation_since_2015 Sanders' party affiliation is younger than my driver's license. "Going independent" is hardly a tribulation for him. If he decided to hook up with the Green Party they'd be viable for the first time since 2000. If he decides to retain his senate seat he gets to be Pelosi's counterbalance. The only way Sanders goes away is if he decides he wants to go away and makes the active decision to fuck off with all of it. And if you don't think Barack Obama doesn't email everybody that donated to his campaign every day you clearly didn't donate.Sanders basically has to either withdraw his presence from 2016 presidential election and re-purpose his movement into local elections or go independent to maintain the movement.
In November 2015, Sanders announced that he would be a Democrat from then on, and will run in any future elections as a Democrat. On February 4, 2016, Sanders said, "Of course I am a Democrat and running for the Democratic nomination."
I'd bet you a quarter that hes not going to branch out as independent if he looses. Friendly wager :) (Its going to cost more to mail the quarter but it would still be fun) . I would love to see a 3 man 1 woman race this year. Sure would make for an interesting election
Two things: 1) I believe we're speaking at cross-purposes. If Sanders loses the nomination, I don't expect him to run as an independent. I expect him to basically become a PAC, a la Avaaz or MoveOn. It is my opinion (and the opinion of a lot of clever people) that Sanders ran primarily to shape the narrative; winning the nomination would be icing on the cake but not the whole goal of his campaign. 2) I coulda sworn you were up in Seattle somewhere, so the wager should have been a beer. But again, I don't think we're on opposite sides on this.