Right Message. Wrong Time.

Why Bernie Sanders shouldn’t be running for president in 2016.

I’m only hipster about my politicians. Having worked in Iowa during the lead up to the 2008 caucuses, I was swept up in the political magic and totally bought into the Iowan self-righteousness, loving the influence in narrowing down the field of candidates in a presidential year.

I worked as an intern for Iowans for Hillary during the fall of 2007. I attended the Jefferson Jackson dinner, the Harkin Steak Fry, and town halls at my very own tiny liberal arts college. I hugged then-Senator Obama. I pretended to support John Edwards to meet an attractive celebrity.

All of this was fun, but the best part was that it got me hooked on caring about politics. I declared political science as my major, and I dove in headfirst. I spent six months in Washington, DC, where in the fall of 2009, I created my Twitter account.

The first politician I followed was Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont.

I loved this guy. I still do. Here was a senator whom I believed to be brave — a true progressive who wasn’t afraid to stand up to interests and call out injustices and inequities in our political system. He was President Bartlet status. He was the closest thing we had to perfect, according to the self-proclaimed idealist liberal college kid I was at the time.

Over the years, I’d check in on what Bernie was up to. He was always fighting the good fight. Restoring my hope in politics after a particularly bruising election cycle. Had you asked me all those years ago who I would choose if I got to handpick the president, it would have been Bernie. Slam dunk, Bernie.

But that was then. And this is now. Now, when I see a bumper sticker with Bernie’s name on it, I first feel happy that his ideals have reached the larger populace, and then a moment later I feel let down that it is happening now.

Ever since Hillary Clinton lost gracefully to Barack Obama in 2008, accepted a cabinet position, and absolutely killed it in that position, she’s been, for the most part, widely viewed as the heir-apparent to President Obama. Over the last eight years, Clinton has accomplished, in my opinion, more than any other high-level leader in our country: she’s been an incredibly effective secretary of state, while somehow managing to become more well-liked (even by an electorate who has perpetually loved to hate her). Texts from Hillary, anyone? Finally, Hillary has started winning in one arena that had eluded her for so many years: the court of public opinion.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this coincided with what I believe to have been a feminist resurgence. Within the last handful of years, popular culture saw Taylor Swift go from “I don’t really like to think about things as boys versus girls” to “Of course I’m a feminist.” The deal was sealed with Beyonce’s “FEMINIST” banner. Mic dropped.

And even with the simultaneous, strange reactionary movement that allowed for the Tea Party and a surge in state abortion restrictions, feminism has begun to shed itself of its negative connotation and find its way into the mainstream.

More attention is being paid to women’s issues. Paid family leave, women’s health care and birth control access, childcare, and more are finally becoming issues that candidates talk about, because Americans are starting to publicly care about them.

And though I know that Bernie Sanders is a feminist, I think it’s sexist that he is running for president in a year when there is a female heir apparent to the Democratic nomination and the presidency who also happens to be the most qualified candidate.

Even many Republicans recognize this. Most people I know don’t actually think any of the Republican candidates can beat Hillary Clinton. So why is this man, from our own party, trying to come in and announce that he can, and wants to?

Sure, people say, it’s not about gender at all — and clearly people aren’t thinking about it this way, since I haven’t been able to find one blog or article on this subject yet. They say it’s about the policy. It’s about the current economic climate. It’s about what middle-class Americans really need.

If there’s anyone who knows what Americans need, it’s HRC. Sure, Bernie might be stronger on middle class issues, but I would argue that Clinton is strong in both foreign policy (obviously) and middle class issues. She’s spent her entire adult life fighting for children and women’s rights. She knows the plight of the middle class. And she knows what’s happening in Syria and what we should do or not do there in order to keep us safe.

She’s earned her way to the top position in the land by becoming more qualified than any other candidate in recent history.

Let me repeat that: She is the most qualified candidate for the presidency, on either side of the aisle, in recent history.

Who is this guy to come in and challenge this? How can you think that you are better? It is so hard to articulate, but for me, it evokes male entitlement.

Here we are, poised to break the highest glass ceiling in the land. And a candidate who claims to be so progressive that he can make women’s lives truly better is failing to get behind this truly significant moment in women’s — and America’s — history.

Someday, I want to live in a society where gender is not part of this conversation — only credentials, a proven track record, and quality ideas. Unfortunately, we are not there yet as a society. We still have to make this progress. We have to prove to ourselves and the world that we really do care about equality. And since Clinton really is the most qualified candidate anyway, this is what makes it seem like a sexist move.

In this country, we have struggled with our underlying misogyny for decades. Women got the right to vote laughably late. The women’s movement came after the civil rights movement, and wasn’t even able to win the ratification of the ERA. Waves of feminism have made a lot of legal and social progress, but from history’s perspective, these movements have also been riddled with disappointments.

Even though Bernie is an excellent advocate for women, he is undermining the effort to tear down feminism’s biggest holdout — the American presidency.

We need to be truly comfortable with a woman president. As progressives, we need to get behind her. This shouldn’t be a difficult choice. We have this opportunity to finally do what should have been acceptable many, many years ago — it’s shameful that it’s taken us this long.

And yet we still seem to have this reservation. We claim it’s because of this extra special candidate. Because of a candidate who is wonderful, and great, but who we know won’t be able to run the country the way the most qualified candidate will. I love Bernie. But I just don’t buy it.

Bernie Sanders matches my political views 96% to Hillary’s 88%. But that’s really not the point. If he truly cares about equality and creating a more perfect union, Bernie Sanders should drop out and throw his full support behind the next leader of the free world, Hillary Rodham Clinton.