Sanders won't go quietly -- or go near a certain hot-button issue (the coronavirus)
SAN DIEGO -- Bernie Sanders has not left the building. And - even after losing three more states this week (Florida, Arizona and Illinois) -- he stubbornly refuses to leave the stage. Even with no discernible path to victory, the renegade Vermont senator won't quit the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders' aides say that he plans to stick it out at least until April 28 -- otherwise known as an eternity from now -- when voters in New York and other states go to the polls.
If that will even be happening at that point. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine this week closed the polls in the Buckeye State because of fears about spreading the coronavirus. Next month, other governors might do the same.
Sanders' last debate performance -- which was surreally delivered without a live audience -- did not inspire confidence that he's up to the task of keeping millions of Americans safe and healthy. That's hard to do when you threaten to turn the nation's existing health care system upside down in the midst of a pandemic, or when you confuse the coronavirus with the Ebola virus.
Be that as it may, right now Sanders isn't going anywhere. He is having too much fun tweaking the Democratic establishment. During the debate, Sanders didn't pull punches against the presumptive nominee.
One thing we're starting to hear from the media is that -- while Sanders is not destined to win the nomination -- he did succeed in raising the right issues.
Is that so? Well, I can think of at least one especially thorny issue that Sanders has avoided like, well, the coronavirus. It's an issue that grew out of the immigration debate, and it threatens to tear apart the Democratic coalition.
An underreported facet of the immigration debate is the constant friction between working-class whites and Latino immigrants. Many in the former group want fewer foreign workers because they fear competition, and they're convinced that immigrants will work for lower wages. Meanwhile, the latter group wants more foreign workers, because they recognize that many jobs won't get done without them and think hard work ought to be rewarded.
And guess who finds himself smack dab in the middle? Bernie Sanders.
Even having this discussion causes severe heartburn for Democrats. That explains why so many of them -- including Sanders -- would just as soon gloss over it. Sanders isn't able to do that, however, because he has stuck his neck out and aggressively pandered to both sides of the debate. And no politician wants to referee a fight between rival tribes of supporters.
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