The coming, if not perfect storm, promises to be the Democratic Convention this summer. It seems likely that neither Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton will have the exact number of votes to win the nomination, which means superdelegates, unelected party apparatchniks whose delegate power comes from state Democratic committees, will make the decision. Obama supporters are now arguing that the nomination should go to the candidate with the most popular votes. Donna Brazile, Obama supporter and Florida disenfranchiser, has said, “If 795 of my colleagues [superdelegates] decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party. I feel very strongly about this,” Brazile said. Brazile evidently misses the irony of enforcing the rules in Florida and ignoring them when it comes to superdelegates.
Brazile may feel strongly about it, but she clearly hasn’t done much thinking about it. Ignoring the anti-democratic treatment of Florida and Michigan (Nevada was allowed to move its primary up), and focusing on the popular vote, she has clearly forgotten about the horribly anti-democratic caucus system which forces would-be voters to sacrifice the better part of a day arguing about which candidate. If you want your voice to count in nominating the Democratic candidate for president, you don’t have the luxury of dropping into the polls betwee 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. You have to spend most of the day at a caucus. Shy? Sorry, not much privacy. Secret ballot? Forget about it. Caucuses are a stupid system.
I don’t like the superdelegate system, but Obamamaniacs, but it’s also the rules. Obama-supporting, question-begging Moveon.org has started a petition drive to sideline the superdelegates:
You’ve probably heard about the “superdelegates” who could end up deciding the Democratic nominee.
The superdelegates are under lots of pressure right now to come out for one candidate or the other. We urgently need to encourage them to let the voters decide between Clinton and Obama-and then to support the will of the people.
Our goal is to reach 300,000 signatures today, before we publish the petition as an ad in USA Today.
It’s a nice thought, supporting the will of the people, but the DNC already violated that idea when they chose to disenfranchise the Democratic voters of Florida and Michigan. And follow the rules? Brazile said she was only following orders the rules concerning these state primaries, why not follow the rules as they apply to superdelegates? Answers may vary. Mine is Obama.
It’s a dangerous game that Brazile, Moveon.org, and DailyKos diarists are playing. If Hillary is nominated, her candidacy will be plagued by a cloud of illegitimacy cultivated by rulemakers and Obamamaniacs who confuse their voice with the voice of the people
I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.
Mark
It’s tough to feel sympathy for the Florida Democratic Party considering every Democratic member of the state legislature voted for the date change.
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p>Fact is, this is only a problem for two reasons: one, the fact that this race is so close that these delegates matter in a significant way. And two, because the Democrats are actually enforcing their rules, unlike the Republicans who predictably caved on this matter.