two ironies from the Democratic nomination

Topics: Campaign2008
06 Jun 2008

From: Ervan Darnell


1) The Republicans use a winner-take-all primary for each state. While
some see that as unfair, it does at least lead to a clear conclusion.
The Democrats try for proportional representation, sort of, and then
throw in all of the super delegates. The whole point of the super
delegates is to actually make a decision. This time around they seemed
to be trying not to make a decision so as to echo the popular will. Why
are they there at all? That brings us to the curious observation that
Clinton, ever so slightly [1], has the lead in popular votes. Where are
all the people making a fetish of every vote counts equally in this
case? Obama supporters have no room to mention that Al Gore won the
popular vote in 2000. The super delegates have the power here to select
the popular vote winner if they want.

2) Ickes (I think it was he) said last week "We won't take this to the
convention." Why not? That's what the convention is for. The
convention is supposed to be the culmination of choosing representatives
(delegates) to represent different interests and have them converge on a
preferred candidate (and platform and party business). Instead, an
actual convention that decides something is seen as politically
inconvenient. This past weekend, the Democratic party leaders cut a
back room deal to anoint to Obama by fiddling with the rules to contrive
that outcome. I don't see that as a bad thing from their point of view,
nor necessarily unfair, and am not arguing it should have been
otherwise, but there is a hypocrisy in all of the bluster about avoiding
back room deals in primaries, and then doing just that while
neutralizing the convention itself. The party that makes a fetish of
democracy as a process is afraid to use it in its own proceedings.

-------------------------
[1]
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html,
looking at the line w/ Michigan, as the most complete, and giving all
uncommitted to Obama, Clinton still comes out ahead in the popular vote
at the time the claim was made (though possibly not today).

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