The always estimable Charles Pierce laid out a compelling analysis of the Sanders Surge today. He begins by laying out how Sanders got to this point:
And it's not as simple as the "populist anger" narrative would have you believe. Sanders has been running a 50-state campaign since before he formally declared his candidacy. He went to South Carolina. He went to Mississippi. He drew large and approving crowds in both places. He has stayed doggedly on message, directly refusing to help the elite political class in its pursuit of shiny objects. He repeatedly has emphasized that the pursuit of his policy goals, which all have to do with breaking the power of impending oligarchy and its threat to self-government, cannot be limited simply to electing him. And that's where the easy narrative falls apart.
There is something archaically fascinating about a contemporary presidential campaign in which the candidate openly eschews the trappings of celebrity. His “staying doggedly on message” and his fundamental disinterest in the “pursuit of shiny objects” is more of a piece with an era of vigorously debated party platforms and whistle stop campaigns. Most everything that Sanders is saying in this campaign comes from his 25 year record as a MOC—there’s no evidence of consultant-crafted themes. Plus, the man flies coach.
Pierce really gets to the nub of the matter in the final 3 grafs, where he compares and contrasts Sanders and The Donald:
The basic appeal of He, Trump is that he is Donald Trump, and you're not, and neither are the rest of those losers on stage with him. He's a down-punching bully basking in the mindless adulation of people looking for someone close at hand to blame for what they believe has gone wrong with their lives and their country. The very strange thing is that Trump asks almost nothing from the people at his rallies except that they love him. He doesn't appeal to sacrifice or common purpose. All the problems will be solved because he's Trump and you're not, and he knows all the Top Men in their fields. But enough about him, let's talk about you. What do you think of him? He looks at his audience and he sees little more than a faceless mirror. He's not a democratic politician. He's freaking Napoleon.
Meanwhile, Sanders punches up at the elites that, frankly, have more power in our politics than he does, or than you do, or than any politician does. He tells his audiences that he can't do it alone, that the money power has grown too great for any one person to combat. He needs them more than they need him. He is not Napoleon, he is a democratic politician. And that makes all the difference and that's why the "populist anger" narrative is a shuck. Anyone who says they could vote for either Bernie Sanders or He, Trump has been living for the last nine months with their head in a laundry bag.
The respective appeals of the two men are similar only on the simplest and least consequential levels. On the most profound levels, the two campaigns couldn't be more different. Bernie Sanders is where he is because the positions and the policies he has been championing all his career have come back somewhat into favor ever since some grifters broke the world economy and then made off with the rubble. That is why he's different from Donald Trump and that is why Hillary Rodham Clinton is noticing that things in the rear-view window are closer than they appear.
While Pierce is, at best, at the fringes of the MSM, it’s nice to see someone who has given Sanders relatively short shrift thus far clearly perceive ongoing developments. It’s further evidence that the political tectonic plates are shifting. It’s clearly not a status quo year, and it’s equally clearly a time for a candidate who views the status quo w/ a fundamental contempt.