March 6, 2008
Superdelegates and the Rebirth of American Civic Life
In the wake of Hillary Clinton's primary victories in Ohio and Texas, the race for the Democratic nomination looks like it will drag on for seven more weeks -- at least until the voters in Pennsylvania have their say -- and probably longer.
The delegate math suggests deadlock: While it is highly unlikely that Clinton can catch- p to Barack Obama in terms of elected delegates, it is equally improbable that Obama can secure the 2,025 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination outright. So much of the attention in the past 48 hours has turned toward the superdelegates, those somewhat mysterious 796 Democratic Party officials and insiders who are free to vote as they please. And that prospect makes Robert D. Putnam very concerned.
Putnam, a political scientist at Harvard and the author of Bowling Alone, says we are witnessing "the sharpest increase in civic engagement among American youth in at least a half-century, portending a remarkable revitalization of American democracy." But all of that promise might be dashed "if the decision rendered by millions of ordinary Americans could be overturned by a backroom deal among political insiders."
He continues:
The 2008 elections are thus the coming-out party of this new Greatest Generation. Their grandparents of the original Greatest Generation were the civic pillars of American democracy for more than a half-century, and at long last, just as that generation is leaving the scene, reinforcements are arriving. Americans of every political persuasion should rejoice at this epochal swing of the generational pendulum, for it portends precisely the sort of civic renaissance for which Jeremiahs have been calling for many years.
Putnam believes that if the election were decided by superdelegates, the corrosive message that "civic engagement is for suckers" would be sent to the young people -- a "new Greatest Generation" -- who have been energized by this campaign.
"So as the superdelegates, the two campaigns, and Democratic Party leaders contemplate how to resolve the procedural issues before them," Putnam writes, "let's hope that they weigh the consequences not merely for their own candidates this year, and not merely for the Democratic prospects in the fall, but for the future vitality of American democracy."
Evan Goldstein | Posted on Thursday March 6, 2008 | PermalinkComments
Previous: The 'Kennedy' Brand
Next: He or She or the Primordial Lie
This article is spot on. If the superdelegates overturn the will of the Democratic primaries, it will set the party back for a decade.
— Mike Mar 6, 05:19 PM #
The Clintons are known for making a mess of things—in the governorship and the presidency. They’re about two degrees from living in a trailer with the rusted Whirlpool out on the gravel. And let’s not even get into the mess on Monica’s dress. They’re not very careful people.
— marci Mar 6, 06:31 PM #
I won’t be surprised if the party bosses “superdelegates” put their influence behind Clinton, but I expect it will be done early, and by court decisions in (isn’t it Michiagan and Florida that are in dispute) so as to avoid another Chicago incident a la 1968.
— bob Mar 6, 09:10 PM #
Why is noone counting the Michigan and Florida votes. Who is the DNC, Howard Dean and Obama not to count the votes of the American Citizen who live and have voted in Michigan and Florida. Who are they to dictate when a State chooses to have its primaries and who it does them. The DNC is as bad as the Nazi Party in Germany, even worse. Even Chavez accepted the WILL of the Venezuelan people, even if he did not agree with it. Why cannot the DNC, Dean and Obama wise up and count the votes in both Michigan and Florida. And the DNC complained about a few votes which were stolen from Gore in the Federal election which cost him the Presidency. How much respect do you think the American people and the People in every Democracy in the World will have for Obama, if he does get the nomination, when HE STOLE THE VOTES of all the voters in both MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA to get the nomination. Absolutely NONE. He will have absolutely NO CREDIBILITY. The DNC, Dean and Obama should do the right thing and COUNT THE VOTES and SEAT the Delegates from the States of Michigan and Florida. The PEOPLE of MICHIGAN and FLORIDA have spoken. Only the DNC, Dean and Obama are not listening. And Obama says is is for change and new. Well his actions speak louder than this words and rhetoric. Michigan and Florida are for change, and how did Obama, the DNC and Dean treat them!! With utter disregard for the right to move up their primaries. They are hypocrites to the First Degree. Actions speak louder than words: Obama, the DNC and Dean. Shame on you for disregarding the Will of the People and Voters in Michigan and Florida.
— KJJ Mar 6, 10:25 PM #
From 2004 Democratic primary in Michigan
CAND. VOTES VOTE% DEL
Kerry 84,214 52% 91
Dean 26,994 17% 24
Edwards 21,919 13% 6
Sharpton 11,270 7% 7
Clark 10,986 7% 0
Kucinich 5,183 3% 0
So almost 100 delegates for Hilary based on numbers from 2004 are not being counted. And Obama, like the Bath party in Iraq CHOSE to boycott the Michigan primaries. SO Obama is not ahead in the :PEOPLE vote. Only in the DNC, Dean and Obama’s selective delegate count. It was Obama’s choice not to have his name on the ballot in Michigan. Now he needs to learn to be a Man and take the consequences of disregarding the freedoms and liberties of the Michgan and Florida people to choose when they want to vote in their primaries. America is not a dictatorship. The DNC old guard (politburo) does not get to dictate the State’s rights to choose their primary date. Even the Federal government does not have this power granted to it in the USA Constitution. Now count the votes in both Michigan and Florida and allocate the delegates for Hillary and count them and report them. The American people and the people in the World have a right to KNOW the dirty politics being played by the DND, Dean and Obama.
Similarly in Florida, the voters have voted and expect their votes to be counted, which they have been by the AMERICAN people, even if the American Press is not smart enough to count them, and determine the number of delegates for Hillary. Give the total delegate country for Hillary, including both Michigan and Florida. Put an asterisk (DNC disputes these votes and delegates), but report the new. Otherwise the American Press is a propaganda tool of the DNC, Dean and Obama. This is an example of very very poor journalism by the American Press. Report the news. And the News is how many Michigan and Florida delegates for both Hillary and Obama and … are not being counted by the DNC, Dean and Obama, BUT WHICH ARE BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, and the United Nations. There is no precedent in any democratic country in modern times not to count the voters of two states like Michigan and Florida. It is unbelievable that in the USA the American Press is CENSURING THIS INFORMATION. What have we become as a so-called Democratic country, when the News is not even being reported!! So PLEASE report the Delegate counts including the Delegates from both Michigan and Florida and put the HEAT on the DNC, Dean and Obama to have them COUNTED!! The people of Michigan and Florida have voted and have selected their delegates. Whether the DNC, Obama or Dean recognize them is IRRELEVANT to the American People. Who are the DNC, Obama and Dean to DISREGARD the WILL of the American People. If this is what Obama calls his change and the new America as he sees it, disregarding the Will of the People of two large states, Michigan and Florida, I for one am not for him or his so-called New America. His change and new are a Gigantic Steps backward for Democracy and Democratic Principles in the USA.
— KJJ Mar 6, 11:04 PM #
For everyone to know about Michigan and Florida votes and the number of delegates which have been won by Hillary, not being counted by the DNC, Dean and Obama, and worse yet, not being reported in the American major press, but by BBC and other news networks.
154 delegates from Michigan
(most for Hillary, since Obama took his name of the Michigan ballot voluntarily!!) and 201 from Florida (again a majority for Hilary since she won Florida as she did CA, MI, TE, OH, NY, …)
So 201 + 154 = 355 for Hillary, or at least a majority for Hillary, and these delegates have been determined already by the voters in these two states. It is time the American Free(?) Press started reporting how many of these delegates have been determined and are committed for Hillary. If they were reported, then Hillary would be in the LEAD, and not Obama. This is the biggest HOODWINK by the American Press in sedition with the DNC, Dean and Obama. They have been exposed by private individuals, and now is the time for the American Press to report the news. Or will it take the BBC to break and report this news to the world. Is the American Press again asleep at the wheel, like the Iraq affair, when they reported the weapons of mass destruction. The American Press appears to not be as free and independent as many of thought it was.
Information on 2004 Democratic primaries!! Why not the same for the 2008 Democratic primaries in Michigan and Florida.
Democratic Presidential: Modified closed caucus
154 total delegates* — 128 tied to caucuses/primary
State Information: 17 electoral votes
6,797,293 registered voters as of October 2002 — voters do not register by party
Florida
Democratic Presidential: Closed primary
201 total delegates* — 177 tied to primary
State Information: 27 electoral votes
9,391,597 total registered voters — 42% Dem., 39% Rep., 2% other, 19% none
So report number of Michigan’s 177 and Florida’s 201 delegates have been won by Hillary by her winning these two primaries. This is the biggest news not being reported in the States. It has made the whole world laugh at so-called American democracies. Worse that in Cuba, Venezuela, Russia and even China.
— KJJ Mar 7, 12:16 AM #
For the interested, go to:
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/
To see the real delegate count, including Michigan and Florida
Hillary Clinton 1,637.5
Obama 1,594.5
So of course the DNC, Dean and Obama do not want to count Florida and Michigan. What has America become when the DNC, Dean and Obama dicdate whose
votes count. How far have we digressed from the intentions of our forefathers and forefathers who fought for the right to vote. Martin Luther King, God rest his soul, is turning over in his grave at the DNC, Dean and Obama not counting the voters in both Michigan and Florida. He had a dream that the voters in these two states would have their votes counted and their delegates seated at the Democratic Convention. The DNC, Dean and Obama are disgracing Martin Luther King and everything and Susan B. Anthony fought for.
— KJJ Mar 7, 12:28 AM #
My goodness! The Clinton-at-any-cost people seem upset. Well, make that, KJJ seems upset. And thanks to the miracle of channeling we know that Martin Luther King, God rest his soul, also is upset.
The DNC is of course the Democratic National Committee, a (literally and figuratively) representative body of local and state Democratic party organizations. And in this capacity the DNC established a set of rules for this primary. Clinton, after agreeing to those rules, violated them by leaving her name on the Michigan ballot (as did Kucinich) and flouted the rules by repeately “fundraising” in Florida.
Senator Clinton now looks like someone who would lie, cheat and steal to get the nomination. Worse by far, it now appears that the Clintons would rather give the election to McCain than the nomination to Obama. One needn’t have a seat on the DNC to be horrified that such evident self-regard trumps the party’s goal of putting a Democrat in the White House.
— BertW Mar 7, 09:09 AM #
“Senator Clinton now looks like someone who would lie, cheat and steal to get the nomination.”
Not exactly a shocking revelation.
— Tracy G. Mar 7, 04:15 PM #
Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. 28 years of rule by two families? That is just too eerie for me. That’s not change, that’s just more of the same secret society stuff that’s got us to where we are today: Broke and at war. The first Bush tricked his buddy Saddam into invading Kuwait then stabbed him in the back in order to establish permanent bases in the Holy Land, Clinton then expanded the bases, then Bush II seized an entire Middle Eastern country. It’s all about peak oil and mineral hegemony. The fourth person in this Fool’s Quartet, Clinton II, will no doubt preside over the Apocalypse. Vote Obama. The fate of the World hangs in the balance.
— Monk Mar 10, 07:23 PM #
For the Clintons, “the greater good” = “what we want.” And God help you if you get in their way.
— PLStepp Mar 10, 09:48 PM #