Kabuki Theater.
Via Newsweek:
Bernie Sanders may have lost the Democratic primary contest for president (yes, it’s over, even if he hasn’t formally conceded), but his campaign looks to be a win-win for his career in the Senate, where he returned Monday night.
Voting for the first time since January—on a series of gun regulation proposals—the Vermont Independent attracted a crowd on the Senate floor, with colleagues from both sides of the aisle approaching his desk to give him a handshake or a pat on the back. “Welcome back, Bernie!” Arizona Republican John McCain, himself a vanquished presidential candidate, told his colleague, after the two shared a hearty embrace.
With Sanders’s security detail, which he’ll retain until he officially suspends his presidential campaign, and a phalanx of photographers trailing behind him, he certainly looked the part of the celebrity politician in his return to the Capitol. And he has the following, among young people and diehard progressive across the country, to match. It’s a steep reversal from his decades toiling in the House and Senate, largely ignored by the Washington press corps and power brokers, as a lonely iconoclast. The really good news for Sanders is he’s been able to build up this new national standing without much of the typical blowback candidates see from voters back home, one of the occupational hazards that usually comes with running for president.[…]
When he returns to the Senate full-time, Sanders will certainly enjoy the kind of stature he couldn’t have even dreamt of before his presidential run. Not only has he become a national spokesman for issues like reining in income inequality and big money in politics, but he’s also proven he has a magic touch with millennials and small-dollar fundraising, things that plenty of other Democratic politicians would love some help with. No wonder so many colleagues were welcoming him back with open arms on Monday night.