Personally, Bernie and I parted on bad terms. I did vote for him in the primary, but almost did not because of what I thought was a telling moment in an interview.

The interviewer asked, would he be willing to take the VP role on a Hillary ticket, and I think that was a great opportunity to build some bridges within the party. He could have said, “While that role wouldn’t allow me to accomplish what I feel needs to be done, I would think about it because it might allow me the opportunity to guide a Clinton administration further than they might otherwise go in order to meet the needs of the people. That said, I have my doubts that she would consider me for that role, and I’d be curious as to how she would answer the same question.”

Instead, he said something like, “What? Well… would SHE be willing to be the VP on MY ticket?”

It was stupid, petulant, selfish, and uncompromising, and thus divisive at a time when we (clearly, in retrospect) needed just a bit more unity among mostly-like-minded people.

I know that a lot of Bernie supporters thought that Hillary was terrible, and visa versa, but I think all of us–even Jill Whatsername supporters–agree that the degree to which the economy has tilted further towards the wealthy in the last two years; the disregard for the environment has become critical; that any positive steps we’ve made in terms of equal rights and/or equity for women, people of color, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and other marginalized people have been reversed; that the nation’s standing and security in world politics and world security has been seriously damaged… We can all agree that cooperation between Bernie and Hillary would have been better than playing into the divide-and-conquer techniques that brought us Trump.

I like Bernie’s ideas a lot, and I think they are possible. But I worry that Bernie is in his own bubble, and I have a feeling he hasn’t learned a darn thing. He’s going to have to prove something serious to me if I’m going to remove my metaphorical “F Bernie” bumper sticker from my soul.