Obama is their Titanic and they have to go down with the ship, they have no choice or the party bleeds to death without the blacks and with the bones broken apart by internal strife. If they are going to rise again later, they must go down with Obama in 2012. Their coalition won't survive if they cast about for a new savior this time.
The Democrat party is just as dead as the Republican Party was dead in 2008. In 2008 the American people were tired of George W. Bush. Lengthy wars without end, unprecedented deficit spending, an economic meltdown in September 2008, and relentless unanswered attacks by the opposition made the US voter ready to try out the party offering change.
The Republicans have ditched Bush just as the Democrats ditched Carter after 1980. If the Republicans take power in 2012 and fail to improve the economy, the Democrats will have a major resurgence in 2014 under a new standard bearer.
Unfortunately, the two major parties have successfully constructed a duopoly which prevents new parties from arising and presenting real alternatives to the electorate. As the financing system is constructed today, reform must occur from inside the existing institutions instead of coming from external competition.