African American
In reply to the discussion: Why Bernie Sanders’ problems with black voters go much deeper than him just blaming the media [View all]MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)As I do give credit to Sanders for at least going to South Carolina and delivering the kind of message that indicates that he's being sincere in the way that he's altered his messages, post NetRoots and Seattle.
But despite that, he has three tall hurdles to pass:
1. He simply needs to distance his message from what black voters expect will be the same coming from Clinton. If both messages regarding race and equality are received as alike, Sanders simply won't be able to overtake Clinton with black voters due to her higher degree of familiarity with them.
2. Although Sanders himself was clear and unambiguous in his language in South Carolina, that whole Cornel West business was something that he could have done without. How much of one canceled out the other, we have to wait and see.
3. There still quite a bit of issues between black voters and many of Sanders' white supporters. There's still the element of alienation. Trust me, black voters will not respond well if Sanders' white supporters try to tell them how to think. His white supporters needs to learn to listen to black people's concerns, just as Sanders himself appears to have. There's a lag here, but it's clear that Sanders' supporters need to follow his lead. Especially when it becomes quite clear that he's still trailing Clinton.
The first and last parts are the most crucial.