Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

May 6, 2008

Undemocratic Democrats Prepare the Smoke-Filled Rooms

Remember all the moaning and groaning during the 2000 presidential election when the Democrats accused the Republicans of stealing the election? Remember how lawyers for Al Gore attempted to disenfranchise Floridian U.S. servicemen and women overseas by asking the courts to toss out their absentee ballots? Well, Democratic “superdelegates” could disfranchise half of their own voters this election year.

This summer, almost 800 so-called superdelegates will occupy smoke-filled rooms of cigar bars in Denver as they mull over their choice for the Democrat presidential nominee. Never mind that Barack Obama will in all likelihood have won the majority of votes and elected delegates. This select group of Democratic politicians and DNC members has the ability to trump the will of the voters and instead select Hillary Clinton – the very thing Democrats still claim the Supreme Court did to them in 2000. They didn’t like it then, but they appear more than willing to essentially do the same thing to themselves this summer if the elected delegate count remains close.

The concept of superdelegates trumping the electorate demonstrates Democrats’ inability to govern, their thirst for power and their disdain for the will of the voters. They’ll decide what’s best for their electorate the same way they’ll decide what doctor you will be assigned after they nationalize health care.

And, to further complicate matters, Hillary Clinton still wants to change the DNC rules to which she agreed, and count the votes of the Florida and Michigan primaries. Her backers point out that Florida Democrats had nothing to do with the Republican legislation changing the primary date, so why punish them (and her) for it. She should have thought of that before her slide in the polls and the first ballot was cast.

But the most disturbing thing about the Democratic nomination process is that superdelegates can be bought off with campaign contributions from the candidates. Their votes are for sale to the highest bidder. What’s fair or democratic about that?

To date, the Obama and Clinton campaigns have dished out hundreds of thousands of dollars to superdelegates, who in return either have pledged, or are expected to pledge, their support. Some superdelegates have even received money from both candidates. Even cheesier is when someone like Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta switched his support to Obama when it looked like he was going to knock Clinton off in early March. He said the fact his constituents overwhelmingly supported Obama influenced him to change sides.

I’ll bet it did. He didn’t want to be the only black politician supporting Clinton if Obama became the nominee. It wouldn’t go over very well in Atlanta if he dissed the brother in favor of the white woman, especially when he faces re-election this November. This illustrates that many liberal Democratic politicians lack commitment and tend to govern by polls instead of doing what’s right. A recent AP poll revealed that 10 percent of superdelegates are going to vote the same as the majority of their constituents, so why do you need them?

Democrats are taking a big risk. If you are a liberal college student who voted for the very first time for Obama in a primary, only to find out later that he lost the nomination because of the superdelegate process, you might be inclined to vote for John McCain or not vote at all in November.

Faster than former Gov. Eliot “Client Number Nine” Spitzer resigned after being caught up in a sex scandal, Rev. Al Sharpton made it known he intends to march on the convention if Obama’s nomination is overruled by superdelegates. The fireworks that are sure to go off inside and outside the convention will make Republicans very happy they don’t have superdelegates.

Why don’t both parties just scrap caucuses and superdelegates and let the voters of their respective parties decide their nominee? No holds barred; winner takes all. I don’t think a Democrat should be able to declare himself or herself a Republican for the day to vote for the weakest candidate, or vice versa. Hillary owes her wins in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania to Rush Limbaugh for encouraging such behavior to stir the Democrat pot. The whole system is obviously skewed.

Hillary has said she’ll take the nomination process all the way to the convention floor, which is exactly what conventions were originally designed for. It’ll be fun to watch the fur fly.

Gregory D. Lee is a nationally syndicated columnist. He can be reached through his website: www.gregorydlee.com.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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