Superdelegates: Profiles in Cowardice

The ~~whispers~~ calls are getting louder for Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination. There's rightful concern that the ongoing fight is hurting Barack Obama's chances against John McCain. While Democrats wring their hands, there is a group of people who are sitting on theirs: the unpledged superdelegates.

With a show of hands, the roughly 250 or so uncommitted superdelegates can stop the fight. Instead, they're cowardly holding back as Obama and Clinton duke it out until the final round on June 3.

Sure, Democratic National Committee rules say that superdelegates are free to exercise independent judgment. And they could choose Clinton. But that would be tantamount to political suicide. The Clinton option was foreclosed when she embraced the "politics of division."

The issue is no longer whether Obama or Clinton is more electable. Instead, it's whether the Democratic Party is willing to throw black voters under the bus as they chase after "hard-working," albeit elusive, white Democratic voters. Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, wrote:

But even if superdelegates agree with her, there's a larger reason why she is asking the impossible: The clout of African-Americans as the party's most loyal voting bloc eliminates any chance the superdelegates will stop Sen. Obama's nomination out of concern that he might lose in November.

For the superdelegates to nominate her, they would have to forsake both the Democratic Party's long-term interests and their own personal moral code.

Brown added:

While blacks don't see Sen. John McCain as malevolent as Mr. Bush, there's little chance of a huge African-American protest vote for the Arizona Republican in November if Sen. Obama is denied the nomination.

Instead, millions of blacks would sit this one out. Without a large African-American turnout not just Sen. Clinton, but also Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates, might be toast. It would be almost impossible for them to make up the difference among white voters.

Question: What are these party elites waiting for? Even Stevie Wonder can see the end is near. But then again, there are none so blind as those who will not see.

Reader Comments

1. I'm white, and I wish they would do a poll of whites who are FOR Obama because he is Black. I think it's a beautiful thing for our country, and makes me want him to be president all the more.

...on the other hand, I would vote Obama, were he white and a woman... it's not about race, it's not about gender....it's about the person: and he's a good intellegent person who would make an excellent president.

keivn at 2:36PM on May 12th 2008

2. "Instead, they're cowardly holding back as Obama and Clinton duke it out until the final round on June 3."

So let me get this straight, anyone who votes for anyone other than Obama is a coward? What a racist pile of crap article this is. At least Stevie can see now.

Don at 2:38PM on May 12th 2008

3. Sen. Clinton want only one thing, she want the superdelegate to steal the nominatenation from Obama, that the only way she could win but she don't care how she win or what she have to said or do to be nominating.

Sen. Clinton said she can beat McCain for president but she can't beat Obama fairly to be the nominate.

Charles at 2:43PM on May 12th 2008

4. Charles, where in the hell did you learn to write English? Are you translating from Mjumob'ojumb'oo?

Dimotas at 4:23PM on May 12th 2008

5. Hey Kevin, you must be hitting the crack pipe pretty hard, huh? Oh yes, everything about Obama is just so beautiful and peaceful, and lots of kitties and puppydogs romping around him. Oh such sweetness and light (not too light if you know what I mean. Oh yes and Obama is sooo intelligent and smart and wise and mystical and ethereal, and heavenly, and angelic, and full of kindness, and loves those kitties and puppies, and little nig babies, and he's so cool, and black and hip (hop), and he raps when he gives those brilliant light-filled and hopeful speeches, and even Abraham Lincoln must be just absolutely delighted that a 3/5 man(?) gets tobe put up front by the absolutely marvelous democrat party so the vicious white people of America can give him the big ole "Thumbs Down" Vote, and all the dems can weep and cry and keen and moan way down deep in their souls that a nig just can't make it by himself. Well at least he'll be able to give a really beautiful and redeeming and soulful, and heartfelt totally awesome concession speech when John McCain cooks his black ass. OK, cue the violins!

Dimotas at 4:35PM on May 12th 2008

6. www.andwearenotsaved.blogspot.com

It ain't over until the lady in the pant suit sings! Had she won Indiana by a large margin and then took West Virginia would we be hearing this battle cry? And if the table were turned, would we want Obama out now?

RJ at 4:56PM on May 12th 2008

7. From Blacks4Barack...Jenna Bush Wed By Obama Supporter (A Black Man !) For complete story/photo see NEWS UPDATES at www.Blacks4Barack.org

Say It Loud...BARACK & I'M PROUD !!!!!!!!!!

Greg Jones at 7:10PM on May 12th 2008

8. Dear Fellow Senator Obama supporters, white, black, latinos, rich poor, blue collar, white collar, all races, listen.......
It's the media & the right wingers that have tried to separate us. But, WE didn't let it happen because we can now see that none of the hype/mud mattered! WE have ALL stood behind Senator Obama and they are now scrathing their heads trying to figure out how in the HELL did he get through that storm and WIN the Dem nomination! Dumbfonded is what I would call it!
Let's continue to stand together for HOPE. WE will not let the negative comments divide us! They are now saying McCain/ republicians are going to come at Obama hard...bring it ON!
McCain can't do anything hard, he is too OLD! McCain can barely make it out to the stage, how is he going to go after someone? Or maybe he has FORGOTTEN he is up against a YOUNG whipper snapper!

Obama 08!

cindy at 7:11PM on May 12th 2008

9. Friendly fire? Picture Barack Obama as a black Pat Tillman surrounded by "Friendly Fire" being cut down by our past history of hate and racial inequity. Who has the courage to call for a ceasefire? Who is responsible if no one will be held accountable? That's the problem with the Democratic Party. Ever since impeachment, no one has been responsible. Victims have learned to lead, but it cannot last. Obama is not a victim just because he is Black. The message that Obama can deliver is good for America if he doesn't become "Cosby Critical." Who wants to see a soldier get cut down?

Cecil Jones at 9:30PM on May 12th 2008

10. Which other presidents hid their African ancestry? Well, it's not Bill Clinton, even though the Congressional Black Caucus honored him as the nation's "first Black president" at its 2001 annual awards dinner. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge all had Black ancestors they kept in their genealogical closets, according to historians.

Harding did not deny his African ancestry when Republican leaders called on him to deny his "Negro" history. He said, "How should I know whether or not one of my ancestors might have jumped the fence?"

Does African ancestry make these men Black? If the bar is the one-drop rule, then yes. The one-drop rule is a historical term used during the Jim Crow era that defines a person with one drop of sub-Saharan-African ancestry as not white and therefore must be Black. If that's the bar, then there have already been other Black presidents, says historian Leroy Vaughn, author of Black People and Their Place in World History.

The first president with African ancestry was Jefferson, who served two terms between 1801 and 1809. Jefferson was described as the "son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father," as stated in Vaughn's findings. Jefferson also was said to have destroyed all documentation attached to his mother, even going to extremes to seize letters written by his mother to other people.

President Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, was in office between 1829 and 1837. Vaughn cites an article written in The Virginia Magazine of History that states Jackson was the son of an Irish woman who married a Black man. The magazine also stated that Jackson's oldest brother had been sold as a slave.

Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, served between 1861 and 1865. Lincoln was said to have been the illegitimate son of an African man, according to Vaughn's findings. Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and his mother allegedly came from an Ethiopian tribe. His heritage fueled so much controversy that Lincoln was nicknamed "Abraham Africanus the First" by his opponents.

President Warren Harding, the 29th president, in office between 1921 and 1923, apparently never denied his ancestry. According to Vaughn, William Chancellor, a professor of economics and politics at Wooster College in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy. Evidently, Harding had Black ancestors between both sets of parents. Chancellor also said that Harding attended Iberia College, a school founded to educate fugitive slaves.

Coolidge, the nation's 30th president, served between 1923 and 1929 and supposedly was proud of his heritage. He claimed his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. Coolidge's mother's maiden name was "Moor," and in Europe, the name "Moor" was given to all Blacks, just as "Negro" was used in America. It later was concluded that Coolidge was part Black.

Dare you to read this then research it at 10:00PM on May 12th 2008

11. I WISH THEY COULD JOIN VOICES AND STOP ALL THE FIGHTING.

dweett adams at 10:50PM on May 12th 2008

12. To Dimotas 5, I am OFFENDED of your RACIAL REMARKS ON HERE! Every time there is news about Obama and Hillary, there is always IGNORANT, STUPID, RACIST PEOPLE LIKE YOU, THAT GET ON BLACK VOICES! I guess you got tired of the AOL, AOL NEWS, AOL POLITICS and had to STIR UP THIS GOOD FORUM! PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE FULL OF "HATE" AND YOU NEED TO STOP IT!

Obama is white and black. People are not voting just becuase of the color of his skin! People want "CHANGE" People, likes what he stands for and what he is about! Obama isn't for just BLACKS he is for ALL! We all need to understand, help one another, unite, and love one another! Nobody of no race has any "Authority" over anybody, only "GOD"!

You are the one being a COWARD by not saying the word NIG in your sentences! BV is for anybody but it's people like you that RUIN A GOOD FORUM! But you know what, the majority of the people that normally be on here will ignore you and WON'T start a forum for your IGNORANT, STUPID, RACIST, SELF! Your comments on here just goes to show, "RACISM STILLS EXISTS"!

YOU SHOULD BE BANNED AND REMOVED PERMANTELY OFF OF BV!

Ms. Unique at 7:53AM on May 13th 2008

13. The comment I made in #12 for Dimotas #5; I meant to say, "You are the one being a COWARD by saying the word "NIG" instead of SPELLING THE WHOLE WORD OUT IN YOUR SENTENCES"! "COWARD"!

Ms. Unique at 8:01AM on May 13th 2008

14. lol cindy.........go Obama

shawn at 10:06AM on May 13th 2008

15. Ms.Unique we must IGNORe,the IGNORant. dimotas IGNORance speaks for itself. Why is this person reading black voices anyway? Fear my dear. Here we are in 2008 and dimotas is still in the 1860's. Hey dimotas why don't you start your own blog;hollowvoices.org

jabir_1@netzero.com at 10:57AM on May 13th 2008

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