I wonder if the GOP could offer an olive branch of some power position to Sharpton in some way that would give him enough encouragement to run as an independent? You would offer a position to Sharpton? Geeez. The guy provides comic relief in the primaries, but surely nobody would put this guy in power. He's a race baiter, a bigoted anti-Semite and a Jesse Jackson wannabe extortionist. Such a move would be tantamout to offering David Duke a government job to shut him up.
The Dems don't have the guts to call Sharpton what he is and throw him out of the party. That's their albatross (or one of them).
I agree with your assessment of him, but he could serve a useful purpose of breaking the Dem stranglehold on the black voter. And once that is broken, I think it would be lost for good! Who knows what it would take- maybe ambassador to somewhere. Lots of pomp and visibility with no reaal power.