Wednesday, February 13, 2008

We Don't Want No Stinkin' Superdelegates

As I was driving to work yesterday, I heard progressive talk radio host Randi Rhodes discussing the possibility that superdelegates may very well decide who the next Democratic nominee (an oxymoronic expression if ever I've heard one) for president will be. And, right now, it looks like they could snatch the nomination away from Obama and hand it to Hillary.

Rhodes is not the only one talking about this. It seems that almost everyone in the media is, and I think they should be. I'm very concerned that backroom manipulation within the Democratic party is going to supersede the wishes of the people the party supposedly represents, and if this happens, I will leave the Democratic party and become an Independent. Why stay in a party that doesn't value and trust the will of its members?

I hope that the superdelegates align with the candidate who receives the most regular delegates through the primary process and that, afterward, the Democratic party ends the use of superdelegates. As it is now, we have Bill Clinton regularly calling one 21-year-old superdelagate I read about, and Chelsea just went to lunch with him. Gee, I wonder if that might have any influence on his vote at the convention!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nice post! It is good that you are bringing yet more attention to this pending problem. I love the Clintons for what they've done IN THE PAST, but the future needs to go to Obama.

The Clintons have shown themselves to be completely ruthless; I doubt they would pause before using absolutely any dirty trick to secure the nomination for Hillary. It's this year or never for Hillary.

There was a HuffingtonPost post today by Clintonite Lanny Davis, Bill Clinton's one-time W.H Special Counsel and "a member of the DNC from Maryland in 1982 when the first superdelegates were created."

He writes, "if independent superdelegates now seem problematic after 26 years to some people, then let the debate begin about eliminating them. But only after the 2008 Democratic Convention - not before."

The guy justifies the very backroom manipulation you write about! Quote Davis: "... the 'smoke-filled rooms' of Democratic Party leaders had led to the nomination and election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. Not bad."

It may be that Obama doesn't stand a chance.