Getting his first reality-check about his inevitable demise, 74-year-old self-declared Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) faces a punishing defeat in South Carolina today, spelling the beginning-of-the-end to his insurgent campaign. Virtually an unknown when he declared for president April. 30, 2015, Sanders promptly made a name for himself attracting large youthful crowds, promising Medicare-for-all and free college tuition at public universities. Sanders lost Feb. 1 to Democratic front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham in Iowa by a razor’s edge, 49-9% to 49.6%. Getting so close in Iowa, Sanders went into New Hampshire Feb. 9 with high hopes, embarrassing Hillary 60.4% to 38%. Sander’s euphoria—and campaign—face a rude awakening today in the Palmetto State, when he’s expected to lose to Hillary by some 30% if the polls prove right.
Going up against the Clinton machine, Sanders was never given too much hope, whose campaign was one of pushing Hillary more to the left. Like her husband, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary likes to “triangulate,” or adopt positions often taken in Congress by moderate Republicans. Signing GOP-backed welfare reform into law Aug. 22, 1996, Clinton showed how far he’d deviate from the liberal base to placate Republicans. Hillary, too, likes to rap herself around the July 21, 2010 Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Act, reportedly making the 2008 economic collapse more difficult. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), opposed to Dodd-Frank, insisted the legislation didn’t go far enough to rein in Wall Street. Bill Clinton signed Gramm-Leach-Blilery Nov. 12, 1999, essentially ending the 1933 Glass Steagall Act, preventing banks from owning investment banks.
Bill Clinton denies that Gramm-Leach-Bliley led to the 2008 financial collapse, just like Hillary denies that Dodd-Frank saves Wall Street from another meltdown. Bernie tried to hold Hillary’s feet to the fire, raising questions about her Super PAC, raising over $15 million from Wall Street, not to mention receiving exorbitant speaking fees from kingpins like Goldman Sachs. Former Harvard economics professor and current Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in the 2001 book “A fighting Chance,” that Hillary changed her vote on the 2001 Bankruptcy Reform Act, first opposing it, then voting for it due to her ties to Wall Street. Whatever really happened, Sanders tried but failed to change many minds, as Hillary now looks poised in South Carolina to steamroll her way to the nomination. Debating Hillary four times, Hillary made Sanders look like a one-trick-pony.
Expecting a lower turnout than in 2008 when President Barack Obama ran for president, Hillary looks to get the lion’s share of South Carolina’s African American vote. While Bernie’s received some black endorsements, including Harvard’s Cornell West or filmmaker Spike Lee, Hillary should get a large percentage of South Carolina’s black vote that went to Barack in 2008. Heading to March 1 Super Tuesday, Hillary also looks to capture the Democratic black vote in all southern states, including Texas. Whatever happens to Bernie’s campaign, he’s done a remarkable job making Hillary sweat, especially after New Hampshire. Hillary tried her best but New Hampshire voters sent her a loud message that they weren’t buying into her campaign. Hillary touted her vast foreign policy experience, essentially making Bernie look like he’s a one-issue candidate.
Bernie isn’t going to fair any better March 1 in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. His path to the nominations ends in the South, stopping the unlikely run that won him big crowds, cheering his denunciations of Wall Street, the wealth-discrepancy and what he calls the “billionaire class.” Debating foreign policy with Hillary, Bernie had the perfect chance to land a knockout punch over Hillary’s dubious support of toppling Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Sanders knows that the Clinton Library and Global initiative get millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Sanders could have asked Hillary to explain why she or her husband receive so much cash from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Had Sanders pointed out Hillary’s strong backing of the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad, pitting the U.S. against Russia, he would have raised some damaging questions.
Leaving key issues off the table makes you wonder if Sander pulled-his-punches, knowing he’d eventually lose the nomination to Hillary. If he were too strident, like Obama was in 2008, he might have damaged Hillary for the general election. As it stands now, Sanders looks ready for a blowout loss today and all over the South, handing her the nomination. After New Hampshire, Hillary sharpened her attacks on Sanders, telling voters “she wasn’t a one-issue candidate.” Instead of ramping up pressure on Hillary with her Wall Street ties and foreign policy that matches that of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Sanders gave Hillary a pass. When she faces what looks like Trump in the Fall, she’ll have to explain a lot more than her ties to Wall Street. Trump’s shown a no-holds-barred and take-no-prisoners approach to campaigning, promising Hillary no cakewalk to the White House.
