Will a Popular Vote for Barak Obama Be Discarded by the Superdelegates?

Presidential primaries don't excite me. Right or wrong, my interest in examining the candidates usually kicks-in after the primaries. That's where the fun starts... when I'm forced to select from the lessor-of-two evils in a general election process where the Electoral College determines the strength and importance of my individual vote.

Well...Until now.

With the potential for a major first on the horizon (female president? black male president?), I follow political news on a daily basis. Up to this point, I maintain deep interest in Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama and mild interest in other Democratic and Republican potentials. Heck, any Congressman who will stand and give a speech about abolishing the Federal Reserve (Ron Paul), Republican or not, deserves a second look.

But alas, while the Electoral College robs the general election process of a truly popular vote, the Democratic party nomination process is overshadowed by the Superdelegates. According to Wikipedia:

"Superdelegates are delegates to a presidential nominating convention in the United States who are not bound by the decisions of party primaries or caucuses. Superdelegates are elected officeholders and party officials."

Today, the Thought Merchant posted a disturbing an eyebrow-raising blog post - The Superdelegates already fixed the outcome pledged support for Hillary Clinton:

FORGET IOWA. Forget New Hampshire. Forget the Democratic primaries altogether. The fix is in for Hillary Clinton. When Democrats convene this August in Denver, they will nominate Hillary as their candidate for President of the United States.

The day after Hillary’s loss in Iowa last Thursday, her campaign chief Terry McAuliffe told reporters, “Listen, Hillary is going to be the nominee. There’s no question.”

McAuliffe was not indulging in wishful thinking. He was stating a fact. He knows things the rest of us do not.

One thing McAuliffe knows is that Hillary controls a decisive majority of the Democratic Party superdelegates. The superdelegates control 42 percent of the votes needed to nominate Hillary. They may vote for whomever they wish, for any reason, and may change their minds at will. In August, they will nominate Hillary. (Entire story here).

I don't know about you, but whether you're on the "O-Train" or not, you should find it deeply disturbing if Obama wins the popular vote by a landslide and loses the nomination in a room filled with smoke-&-mirrors and power-hungry Superdelegates  - who may ditch the popular vote for a pre-planned trip on the "H-Train."

I got over myself with the whole Electoral College after enduring the boring valuable and informative History classes in High School. High schools make sure to fend-off a debilitating state of disillusionment before youngsters reach voting age by breaking the bad news teaching the virtues of the Electoral College.

But I sure wish I'd been faithful to indulging in the nomination process. Now I feel like I'm sitting in Mr. Smith's history class, learning more about the way our fabulous democracy further dilutes the collective voice of the people.

I flash back to the gnawing disdain in people's eyes when describing their personal choice to remain absent from the voting process. Laments of "my vote doesn't matter anyway" ring through a thin layer of cynicism. I understand those folks. Yet unmoved, I won't let the weather or the  typical slimy conniving politicians Superdelegates deter me from casting an honest vote when the nomination-train stops in New Jersey.

Comments

[GC]

thanks for the crash course in civics
that piece on the federal reserve was pretty exciting
exciting in a "Where are my heart pills" kind of way
I don't even know what to think about Obama. Trying to fight back the cynicism. I don't even know what to think about him as a candidate much less with the prospect of a bait and switch courtesy of the Electoral college.