Politics is like driving. To
go backward, put it in R. To go forward, put it in D.
-- Old line, but an easy way to remember
how to vote
Did you see the
three speeches last night? I question my
own objectivity, given my role; but McCain seemed uncomfortable, addressing
perhaps 200 rather subdued, mostly older folks . . .
whereas both Obama and Clinton addressed large, wildly enthusiastic, diverse
crowds (Obama had 27,000 at his) and either one of them struck me as
inspirational world leaders.
Not to say the
election will be easy . . . for every voter
who goes to a rally there must be 500 who don’t. But it seems to me that the ability to
inspire is an important attribute of leadership; and that leadership is sorely needed if we’re
going to begin solving the problems we face.
This much seems
clear: we’re just about to enter Phase 2, finally. (You know, the phase where Democrats compete
against Republicans instead of each other.)
I, for one – enthusiastically neutral between our two superb candidates
until the end – can’t wait.
The first job
will be reuniting the Party.
ANGRY WE HAVE SUPERDELEGATES
Craig D:: “I don’t understand this Super Delegate
stuff. I thought Democrats were supposed to be egalitarian in their thoughts. But
you are an elitist SUPER delegate! Are
you noshing on finger sandwiches while the regular delegates eat your crumbs? Does a regular delegate live in the flatlands
while you live in a SUPER mansion on the hill? Will the Republican serfs be tilling the
fields for you? What are we coming to
when we have different classes of Democrats?”
F Well, we’re generally a good bit more
egalitarian than our competition, but Democratic Senators and Representatives and
state party chairs and vice chairs – who make up the largest share of automatic
(or so-called “super”) delegates – do
tend to have more clout in the Party than the average voter. Likewise former Democratic Presidents of the United States,
like Jimmy Carter, who also get this status.
Then again, these
people were elected by average voters,
albeit not for this specific task. And
they get no more votes than regular delegates – one vote each like anybody else.
(How did you hear
about the finger sandwiches?)
ANGRY THE SUPER DELEGATES DIDN’T CHOOSE HILLARY
James A.: “Folks
here in Florida
are really shell-shocked by the ‘Democratic’ party. My sense is that a Super Delegate should vote
for the candidate who can win in November (clearly, Hillary). Otherwise, why bother having Super Delegates
at all?”
F Well, yes, that's exactly what
superdelegates should do. But you pack
an awful lot into a two-word parenthetical phrase (“clearly Hillary”). I agree think Hillary can beat McCain –
though a lot of Barack supporters disagree. But Barack can beat him also (though a lot of Hillary voters disagree).
Working in Barack’s favor, if he is the nominee, will be the combined
campaigning strength of the nominee himself and all his fired up supporters;
Hillary and Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Edwards, Jimmy Carter, Bill Richardson,
Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen, 28 Democratic Governors – and many
others, like the million or more “neighborhood leaders” we expect to empower
this summer . . . the unions
. . . women's groups (why would women who voted for Hillary
favor McCain, who opposes a woman's right to choose?) . . .
environmental groups (with whom McCain scores zero) . . . African Americans,
young Americans, disabled Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, LGBT
Americans (why would we favor McCain, who opposes granting equal rights?) . . .
and, I think, as America gets to know him over the next five months, even those
who actually know how to bowl.
Not to say it
will be easy. But those of us who are
Democrats – or Independents or Republicans Obama has inspired – have every reason
to throw ourselves into this effort with enthusiasm.
ANGRY ABOUT FLORIDA
AND MICHIGAN
Wayne S.: “Here are the reasons why I am leaving the
Democratic Party. (1) DNC planned to punish Florida
and Michigan
rank-and-file Democrats for the actions of state legislators. (2) DNC's Rules and
Bylaws Committee decision Saturday confirmed the planned disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan
rank-and-file Democrats. (3) DNC leadership acted too passively to resolve
the Florida and Michigan primaries matter. (4) DNC leadership could have simply told
both Obama and Clinton that re-votes would be held, if funds were raised to
cover the cost. This would have been the
fairest solution, period, for a problem that should have never existed in the
first place (see #1 above). For full disclosure purposes, I am a
supporter of Hillary Clinton. It is
my opinion that Democratic Party leaders did not want a re-vote in Florida and Michigan
because Obama might not have fared well.”
F I wrote back to tell Wayne I really appreciate his passion for
getting the right outcome for our country . . . I
share it . . . and that, within the bounds of my neutrality, I also
share his admiration of, and enthusiasm for, Senator Clinton. (And it’s not the worst thing to be friends
with the President of the United
States.
So it would hardly disappoint me to see Hillary win.)
And yet (I
wrote), the truth is that when Harold Ickes, among others, voted to take away
100% of MI and FL delegates, it was absolutely not done to favor or disfavor
any one of the several candidates then running.
Harold is as smart as they come – and as fiercely loyal to Senator
Clinton as anyone. He would never have
tried to tilt the rules against her.
The further truth
is that both states were encouraged to run re-votes. According to the rules, it was their
choice. But for a variety of reasons, what
seemed simple – “just do a revote” – wasn't something either found a way to
do.
In Florida (my state),
Senator Nelson is the senior Democratic elected official, and he, like Harold
Ickes, is a strong Hillary supporter. So
he would never have purposely tried to tilt this to her disadvantage. But the mechanics and cost of staging a
revote were daunting. For one thing, the
paperless voting machines in many of the state’s largest counties had been
scrapped (and good riddance), to be replaced by paper-trail machines for
November that had not yet arrived. So,
among many other problems: how do you hold a revote without voting machines?
There's much more
to it than this (and doubtless more to it than I know). But having been fairly closely involved and
knowing many of the players – and having asked some pretty tough questions
myself – I’m persuaded that the only “villain” here were the Florida
Republicans in Tallahassee. Our folks
voted unanimously for an amendment to push the date back to Feb 5 to avoid
losing delegates; the Republicans, who control the Florida legislature, wouldn't allow it.
Was it because
they knew it would throw us into disarray and divide us? At first, I didn’t think Karl Rove could be
THAT smart. Now I’m not so sure. But, planned or not, it sure worked, didn’t
it? It got terrific Democrats like Wayne so angry they say they’re
leaving the Party.
So why not just
change the rules to accept all Florida and Michigan
delegates?
We all agree
every fair game needs rules and honest referees. And that bad rules should
be changed – but not in the middle of a game. (Except by mutual consent.)
It’s in the Party’s
interest to have an organized process.
Some progress was made this year (in my view) by adding SC and NV to the
pre-February 5th “window.”
But I share Michigan Senator Carl Levin's view that IA and NH should not
always go first. Among other things, Iowa’s
primacy has screwed up our farm policy and led to the ethanol insanity. So I expect that for 2012 there will be
further improvement in the rules. At
least I hope so.
The rules
penalizing states by 50% (with discretion for stronger sanctions like the ones
Harold Ickes and other Clinton supporters wound up voting for) were set and
agreed to LONG before anyone knew which states, if any, would break them
. . . or which candidates that might help or hurt.
I’d encourage anyone
who feels as Wayne
does to take the time to delve into what happened at every step along the
way. The more you dig, the more I think you
will be confirmed in the view (which I share) that this mess was really
unfortunate . . . but the less you will be left thinking it was designed to
hurt Hillary or that it was something the Democratic Party or the DNC should be
faulted for.
I am hoping that
as we near November 4, Wayne and others will come home.
I’M ANGRY TOO
About the Iraq
catastrophe (read former White House Press Secretary Scott McLellan’s
book);
about the deprofessionalization of FEMA; about the
brakes put on stem cell research; about the obscene redistribution of wealth
from the middle class to the very richest; about the 75% of our soon-to-be $10
trillion National Debt racked up under Reagan, Bush and Bush; about the missed
opportunities on energy policy – and the Cheney energy task force so secret that
even a GAO lawsuit never did pry loose even the list of attendees; about the
stolen election in 2000; about the signing statements; about Valerie Plame; about torture and the suspension of habeas corpus;
about the Swiftboating of John Kerry and the character
assassination of Al Gore and Max Cleland and Tom Daschle; about the
politicization of the Justice Department and its US Attorneys; about the
incarceration of Alabama Governor Don Siegelman that
appalled even Republicans; about the willful discrimination against gay
Americans; about the editing of scientific papers for political purposes and
the blending of religion with science; about the Halliburton no-bid contracts; about
the culture of corruption within the Republican Party (could Alaska Senator Ted
Stevens’ indictment be next?); about the failure properly to regulate the “liar
loans” that were so obviously contributing to a real estate bubble that could only
end badly. And on and
on and on.
I’m sure there
are a few things to be angry with Democrats about, but they don’t remotely rise
to this level of severity or abundance.*
ANGER MANAGEMENT
The way I deal
with my anger is to do what I can to help widen our hair-thin lead in Congress
and win back the White House. It’s great
therapy.
Coming soon: Hope for a brighter day.
_______________
*The
only thing that springs to mind at this particular moment are
the alleged finger sandwiches. Why didn’t anyone tell me there were finger
sandwiches?