Wilentz: If You Nominate Obama, History Will Track You Down....I know that something's amiss when I
agree with Sean:
The continuing contest for the Democratic presidential nomination has become a frenzy of debates and proclamations about democracy. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has been particularly vociferous in claiming that its candidate stands for a transformative, participatory new politics. It has vaunted Obama's narrow lead in the overall popular vote in the primaries to date, as well as in the count of elected delegates, as the definitive will of the party's rank and file. If, while heeding the party's rules, the Democratic superdelegates overturn those majorities, Obama's supporters claim, they will have displayed a cynical contempt for democracy that would tear the party apart.
Wilentz goes on to point out that if the delegates were apportioned on a winner-take-all basis, Hillary would have a comfortable lead. Note that although Wilentz clearly thinks this would be a good idea, what he's really angling at is to counter the notion discussed above, that Obama's lead in pledged delegates and votes constitutes the will of the people. And there I agree with him. He also points out quite neatly that even in individual states, Obama's team doesn't hew to that rule; it's well-noted that Obama won the most delegates in Texas even though he did not get the most votes in that state, due to their convoluted half-primary, half-caucus setup.
Meanwhile, Kos checks in with
a laughable article in Newsweek about Hillary's "coup" attempt:
No matter how you define victory, Barack Obama holds an insurmountable lead in the race to earn the Democratic nomination.
I define victory as the nomination. And Obama's lead in that race is not insurmountable; it is insurmountable
without the superdelegates. But the superdelegates are part of the rules.
Hilariously, Kos goes on to claim that Hillary's "coup" attempt is good for the Democrats. Good, one presumes, only if Hillary fails. While likely, that is not yet a given.
Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sean Wilentz
