This is absurd
I went to see Geraldine Ferraro speak last week. I've been meaning to blog about that as well as Obama's rather remarkable speech, but in the meantime, I'll just say this:
Earlier this week, a group of powerful Washington insiders close to the Clintons sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, lambasting her for suggesting that the primary should be decided by the American people and not by the superdelegates. MoveOn.org has set up a petition to speak out against this kind of abuse of power; you should go here and sign it!
For those who don't know, superdelegates are party officials or former Democratic Party leaders appointed automatically to vote at the Democratic National Primary. The difference between a regular delegate and a superdelegate is as follows. Regular delegates are elected by everyday folks and dudes like you and me through either caucuses or simple majority vote elections. Each delegate is sent to the convention to represent 1000's of people, and is expected to vote according to the outcome of their state's primary or caucus. On the other hand, super delegates are not elected. They are appointed automatically based upon their role as a former party leader or elected officials. Super delegates are not required to vote for any particular candidate; their vote is worth the same as one regular delegate who represents thousands of people, and the sum total of all super delegates accounts for nearly 1/5 of the votes cast in the nomination process.
Most of the time, the Democratic Primary is such a landslide that no makes fuss about it, but this year it is close, and it looks like party insiders could over turn the will of the people, and vote for the losing candidate. In short, the primary could be decided based upon favoritism within the party, and not on people's votes.
Fortunately, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recognizes the folly in such an idea; allowing party insiders to overturn the votes of thousands of people would be political suicide, and so earlier this week she spoke out and suggested that the super delegates vote in line with how the rest of the delegates vote. A number of close friends of the Clintons did not like this because their only remaining option is basically to win by the votes of the superdelegates and so they sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi sharply criticizing her for suggesting that the vote be decided by regular people like you and me and not by internal party politics.
In short, this is absurd! It's absurd that there was ever a system within the Democratic Party by which party officials could overturn the will of the people, and it's even more absurd that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is being criticized for recognizing this fact. We can't sit silently on our hands and let political decisions be decided undemocratically, and for that reason, it's absolutely important that you go here and sign this petition!
Earlier this week, a group of powerful Washington insiders close to the Clintons sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, lambasting her for suggesting that the primary should be decided by the American people and not by the superdelegates. MoveOn.org has set up a petition to speak out against this kind of abuse of power; you should go here and sign it!
For those who don't know, superdelegates are party officials or former Democratic Party leaders appointed automatically to vote at the Democratic National Primary. The difference between a regular delegate and a superdelegate is as follows. Regular delegates are elected by everyday folks and dudes like you and me through either caucuses or simple majority vote elections. Each delegate is sent to the convention to represent 1000's of people, and is expected to vote according to the outcome of their state's primary or caucus. On the other hand, super delegates are not elected. They are appointed automatically based upon their role as a former party leader or elected officials. Super delegates are not required to vote for any particular candidate; their vote is worth the same as one regular delegate who represents thousands of people, and the sum total of all super delegates accounts for nearly 1/5 of the votes cast in the nomination process.
Most of the time, the Democratic Primary is such a landslide that no makes fuss about it, but this year it is close, and it looks like party insiders could over turn the will of the people, and vote for the losing candidate. In short, the primary could be decided based upon favoritism within the party, and not on people's votes.
Fortunately, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recognizes the folly in such an idea; allowing party insiders to overturn the votes of thousands of people would be political suicide, and so earlier this week she spoke out and suggested that the super delegates vote in line with how the rest of the delegates vote. A number of close friends of the Clintons did not like this because their only remaining option is basically to win by the votes of the superdelegates and so they sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi sharply criticizing her for suggesting that the vote be decided by regular people like you and me and not by internal party politics.
In short, this is absurd! It's absurd that there was ever a system within the Democratic Party by which party officials could overturn the will of the people, and it's even more absurd that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is being criticized for recognizing this fact. We can't sit silently on our hands and let political decisions be decided undemocratically, and for that reason, it's absolutely important that you go here and sign this petition!