Democracy Has Prevailed.

April 30, 2008

Rules, Rules, Rules...

The Politico on Senator Clinton's current situation. First the story she's been pushing:

Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama in the popular vote, and this is her path to victory.

She will ultimately win the Democratic nomination by convincing the superdelegates that her popular vote lead makes it legitimate for them to support her. It gives them the cover they need to deny Obama a nomination that he otherwise would have won.

Then the reality:

First, Clinton does not lead Obama in the popular vote. It is a fantasy.

Second, the people she most needs to convince that this fantasy is true are the people least likely to believe it.

Is she really leading the popular vote?

No. Not really. Not unless you throw out the existing rules of the Democratic Party and invent a new set of Hillary Rules.

Under Hillary Rules, Clinton counts the popular vote in Michigan, where she was the only major candidate on the ballot. The Democratic Party does not recognize those votes.

Under Hillary Rules, Clinton also counts the popular vote in Florida, where candidates were forbidden to campaign. The Democratic Party does not recognize the results of the Florida primary, either.

Under Hillary Rules, Clinton throws out the “votes by the people who have voted” in the states of Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington, because those were caucus states, where popular vote tallies were not officially kept and where, by the way, Obama won three out of the four contests.

Under Hillary Rules, Clinton gets to choose the contests that help her, throw out the contests that do not and declare herself the winner.

And then there's the little problem of the superdelegates. So even if she were ahead in the popular vote (and that, as this article states, is a fantasy), the article points out that 56% of all superdelegates are members of the DNC. The rules that Senator Clinton wants to ignore come directly from the DNC. If they wanted a national convention they would have set one up.

The finale:

Lastly, there is the big picture: Will the DNC really overturn the choice of the pledged delegates and substitute Clinton as the nominee over Obama?

I doubt it. First and foremost, DNC members care about the party and its future. So ask yourself: Is the DNC going to shatter the party by telling black voters and young voters that their votes in legitimate primaries and caucuses do not count?

Clinton can try to make up her own set of rules, but that doesn’t mean they are going to rule the DNC or the day.

Rules. Sometimes they're important.

9 comments:

Bram Reichbaum said...

Yes, but a Commander in Chief needs to have the TOUGHNESS to bend and break rules that don't suit him or her, move the goalposts and game the system. Right?

Besides which, I'm sure Obama told a minor inaccuracy once during the campaign. So they all do it. Stop whining about intellectual honesty and fair play, it's so elitist.

Anonymous said...

John K. says: Since when do Democrats have rules. They have agendas. Sen. Clinton knows this. Just ask Torricelli from NJ. Or even Onorato and his provisional ballots. Sen. Clinton knows those MI and FL people will be counted. And Opertaion Chaos is going to keep her in this primary till she convinces the Democrats.

CB Phillips said...

The Hillary rules exemplifies exactly why she has been able to generate so much disdain for her candidacy at this point. Had she just been above board, run a generally respectable campaign, it would be a different story entirely, and her negatives wouldn't be in the basement.

Anonymous said...

When all of the Obama-lovers are finally done licking the Senator's balls, I hope they wake up and realize that while they may not want the voters in Michigan and Florida to count in this primary, those votes will certainly count in the general election. No amount of ostracizing and racist pigeon-holing can change that. If the DNC disallows MI and FL in this primary, it will surely come back to haunt them in the general election. It will give all Democrats something to think about as we watching President McSame being sworn in.

Anonymous said...

John K. says; Yo, it is not President McSame, it is President McCain. Get used to it.

Chad said...

Rules are indeed important.

Hillary's fuzzy math and creative bookkeeping are a joke and should rightly be laughed at, then dismissed.

But here's something else that should be rightly laughed at and dismissed:

Is the DNC going to shatter the party by telling black voters and young voters that their votes in legitimate primaries and caucuses do not count?

Because the Supers voting for Hillary doesn't tell black voters or young voters (side question: don't whites and old folks vote for Obama too? or are they just not the important supporters?) that their votes don't count, any more than people in Ohio and Pennsylvania voting for Hillary tells people in Illinois and Virginia that their votes count.

Because everyone gets a vote, and they all get added up at the end, and then we have a winner. Some of those votes -- and, again, I think this sucks -- count a lot more than some of those others. But it doesn't matter if I or anyone else thinks that sucks. And it doesn't matter if the Supers cement Obama's nomination, or if they produce a come-from-behind victory for Hillary. Either way, the result will be perfectly fair.

Because it will have been produced according to those always important rules.

Anonymous said...

R.M. says:
Einstein with a ball fetish, In the general election Obama's name will be on the ballot, unlike the in the primary. So get your head out of your butt.

Anonymous said...

John K. says: And in that General Election it will be Hussein Obama on the ballot. Unless the left changes the rules about names.

Anonymous said...

Retired Millhunk says:
John K. what does the K stand for? Hold on a minute I think I know K---, no silly me that starts with a C not a K.