Jimmah Carter is a Closet Obama Supporter
May 8, 2008 Political
Former Disaster in Chief Jimmah Carter was on Jay Leno recently (Leno must be having a has been week) and he indicated that the delegates from Florida and Michigan must not be seated because those states broke the rules of the DNC. I actually happen to agree with this position but I agree because it was the rule and the states knew what would happen if they broke it. Carter does not particularly care about the rules as much as he cares how this will affect Barry Obama (who Carter has hinted at preferring). Carter does not want to let Hillary get any closer and he does not want the number of delegates needed to win to increase. He also does not want super delegates added because that would increase Hillary’s chances. Carter also warned about super delegates changing the will of the people:
He warned of a disaster if party insiders try to wrest the nomination from the candidate with the largest number of votes and state victories.
An attempt by so-called Democratic superdelegates to override the popular vote “would be an almost unacceptable thing,” Carter told Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.”
If a candidate has a clear edge in votes, state-by-state wins and delegates claimed at caucuses and primaries, “I can’t imagine that the superdelegates would go against them,” Carter said. “It would be a catastrophe for the party.” WBAL
This is the flaw in their process. First of all, the super delegates are allowed, by their rules, to select who they want. The party has done this before and selected someone who was not the popular candidate (Adlai Stevenson). Secondly, even if they go with the will of the people the standard should not be the will of the people as a whole or the will of the people of a state but should be defined to the will of the people in a particular Congressional District. This standard would apply to elected super delegates who are in the House. The Senators represent an entire state so they wll need to decide how to vote.
For example, in Maryland there are eight Congressional Districts, five of which have Democrats for their representatives. Obama won the state and if we apply Carter’s standard (and the standard of Obama supporters) then he should get all five super delegates. However, Clinton won one of the five (as well as the three headed by Republicans) so Obama should get four and Clinton one. This is how the will of the people is demonstrated. Their wishes are expressed by their Representatives. If we goup all people together by state or as a country then the wishes of the people are not truly expressed.
The fact that Democrats want to do this does not surprise me because they do not care about the will of the voter unless they lose to a Republican (then there are voting problems and people were disenfranchised). The establishment is worried about one thing and one thing only and that is losing the black vote if they select Clinton over Obama. They are worried that Obama will not win the general election because he cannot carry the white vote in sufficient numbers. But, they are stuck with him unless they want to risk losing the black vote, a demographic they cannot win without.
If the Democrats cared about the will of the people they would let the people of Florida and Michigan have a say in the process. Instead, the Democrats have disenfranchised all those people who will probably remember this when it is time to vote in the general election. I agree with Rush Limbaugh. All the people in those states should register as Republicans because we will let your votes count.
In any event, the Democrats have painted themselves into a corner and they will end up getting bloodied before they can get out of that corner.
It will be so much fun to watch them beating themselves to death.
Tags: carter, Clinton, convention, Obama, super delegates, will of the people