Well, they’re going to blame the white liberals if Bernie Sanders goes ahead and wins the caucus in Iowa and the primaries in New Hampshire, as the polls now indicate that he will do, perhaps easily.
You can take a look at the United Kingdom if you want a preview of how that is going to look and feel.
I suppose the big question is whether other parts of the Democratic base will rally to Sanders the way they rallied to Obama once he won in Iowa.
It’s a lot different this time around. Obama proved that he could win over white voters, which gave black voters confidence that he could win the general election. Sanders has to prove that he can win minority votes in the primary (and Iowa and New Hampshire won’t help him prove that) and that he can win moderates in the general. That’s a much harder trick to pull off.
It’s hard to convince people that you can do something before you actually have a chance to try, and it’s hard to simultaneously get the progressive left excited and keep moderates from freaking out.
This is especially hard because the Republicans play racial politics so nakedly and tenaciously. They will use evidence of support from minorities to attack and take away votes from whites.
But, I’ll tell you what. Winning the first two contests, especially if he does so resoundingly, is the best way to convince people that you’re a viable candidate.
And that’s true no matter what color you are or what ideology you espouse.
