Hillary vs. Bernie: A First in 2016

For the first time since the beginning of the year, Hillary Clinton received more money than Bernie Sanders over the course of the same month. The former secretary of state collected $36.5 million in donations in April, compared to the Vermont senator’s $28.5 million – a decrease of 40 percent from the previous month.

The amount of $28.5 million translates to a deceleration of Sanders’ campaign, who announced the dismissal of hundreds of employees last week, the day before the primaries in five eastern American states, of which only one went favorably for him (Rhode Island).

However, as part of a speech at the National Press Club yesterday, the social democratic candidate resumed his campaign director’s argument that the superdelegates who have declared their support for Clinton should revisit their decision and lend him their support.

“At the end of the day, the responsibility that superdelegates have is to decide what is best for this country and what is best for the Democratic Party,” declared Sanders in predicting a contested Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July. “And if those superdelegates conclude that Bernie Sanders is the best candidate, the strongest candidate, to defeat Trump and anybody else, yes, I would very much welcome their support.”

Imagine if Clinton had maintained this kind of discourse after registering losses that had left her millions of votes and hundreds of delegates behind Sanders.

She would have been accused of affording greater importance to the Democratic elites than to the regular voters. She would be criticized for her exercise in denial. And she would be told to go take a hike. The only difference: One would not have charged her with hypocrisy, because she is indeed part of the establishment from which the superdelegates come.