Bravo
A NY Times article about the Democratic party superdelegates included this amazing paragraph:
The delegates said they hoped to avoid being portrayed as party elites overturning the will of Democratic voters. They spoke of having some power broker — the names mentioned included Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee; former Vice President Al Gore; and Speaker Nancy Pelosi — step in to forge a deal.
In other words, they hope someone will enable them to evade the duty for which they were selected, and for which they volunteered. And why do the hope to do this? Because they don’t want to be portrayed as having actually done what they volunteered to do. Moral cowardice of a most fanciful and creative sort. I salute these superdelegates as true exemplars of their party.
Posted on March 16th, 2008 by pwyll
Filed under: politics
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I find no evidence of “moral cowardice” here. My sense is that the Democratic Party superdelegates are seeking a path to avoid having the final determination of a nominee fall into their hands. Many Democratic party voters see such a scenario as disenfranchising them. To quote another part of the NY Times article you quote:
Seeking to maintain the importance of individual votes in Democratic primaries is not moral cowardice.
Making the final determination is precisely their duty.
The moral cowardice arises from the peculiar fear of being “portrayed as X” where X is whatever is politically taboo this minute. How one is portrayed is the most important thing. It matters far more than faithfully executing one’s duties.
This concern for how one is portrayed permeates the party. One must conform to every nicety of the identity politics of the moment, or be portrayed as racist, sexist, etc. The superdelegates fear to be portrayed as elites. How sad for them. But is it not the case that the superdelegates are in fact the party elite and this is why they get to determine the candidate? Who foisted these undemocratic rules on the Democratic party? Karl Rove?
Let me get this right. They don’t want to be seen as elites overturning the will of the voters so the elites turn to one person for this resolution. That’s surely a step in the right direction. I have been greatly amused by the complete dis-function of the dem party, and I can barely wait for what they come up with next. I admire how they can keep straight faces in discussing this self-inflicted mess.
pwyll,
You and I have differing views of the responsibilities of the superdelegates. Their role is limited to, if necessary, steering the party to a candidate that, consistent with the party’s interests, can win in the general election. This year’s election is the first real test of this system. The superdelegates are now in uncharted political waters. We shall see the outcome.
I know we both will be staying tuned.
I seen some people conjecture that the deus ex machina standing by to save the dems is none other than Al Gore in a last minute presidential bid. I think Al is getting too much money and adulation in his role as as eco-prophet to want to bother. On the bright side, if Gore did step in, then the racist/sexist fix would also be in. The howls would be loud and long. I figure he would have to go with Obama as vp to avoid protracted additional exposure to the Clintons. I imagine he’s already had enough of that.
Whatever happens, I’m looking forward to the lawsuits. Only a court can properly determine the winner of an election. Unless …, thinking… what if they could get Jimmy Carter and the UN to certify their convention? Then all would be well.
algore has a lifetime* self appointment as savior of the world. Why would he stoop to be president?
*or until global cooling takes hold in a few years.