How Super Are the SuperDelegates?

A Hillary SuperDelegate

Ever since February, we’ve known that the choice between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would not be officially made until the Convention was over. We knew the race was too close to call, and that neither candidate would win enough pledged delegates to get to the “magic number” and clinch the nomination.

Since the people were divided, the SuperDelegates would have to step in and save the day. Their job, their ONLY JOB, is to choose the candidate that is more likely to win in November. Any declarations the pledged delegates and superdelegates make until the Convention are meaningless until the actual vote in August. Since Hillary did not concede and has not released her delegates, all delegates are free to choose either her or Obama at the Convention. This is the way Democratic Conventions have been run for the last 100 years.

Despite what the media and the Obama/DNC Conglomerate tells you, these basic facts HAVE NOT CHANGED SINCE FEBRUARY.

Amazing, isn’t it?

If you talk to most Obamans, they will start screaming about how horrible McCain is before you even try to get a sentence out. Wiping spittle off their lips, induced no doubt by the thought of Satan – er, Hillary – occupying the White House instead of The One, they will demand, as David Shuster did yesterday, “Do you support abortion rights? If so, then how can you support McCain?”

This argument does not sway PUMAs, because we understand the facts and they do not. The choice is not between Obama and McCain. It’s between Obama and Hillary, and who is most likely to beat McCain in November. 

If you look at Obama’s performance against McCain objectively, the Senator from Illinois is tanking in the polls. In states where he had a double-digit lead, he’s hemorrhaging support. In swing states, McCain is starting to edge him out. In a Democratic year, this lack of enthusiasm is unheard of. And yet, it’s happening. Why?

Of course, I partially credit the PUMA movement for Obama’s poor performance. But I’ve talked to so many people – Democrats and liberals – who haven’t even heard the word “PUMA” and have already lost their Obamamania. One reason for this loss of support is assuredly the Obamapalooza in Europe. The word “presumptuous” started jogging around the media for a reason after that ridiculous stunt. Then, still on vacation, Obama failed his first 3 a.m. test. It’s not that McCain gave the right answers on the Georgia-Russia crisis, but at least he was specific and detailed in his response. Obama, as per usual, gave vague and noncommittal statements that appeared as if they served only one purpose: to do no harm. Sorry, Barack, when you’re President, you have to do your own homework. You have to sound clear and definite, especially when dealing with jittery, aggressive superpowers like Russia. 

Now, if we had a fourth estate that wasn’t a propaganda arm of the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy, they would be polling Hillary’s chances too. Then, we could do some comparison and contrast. Perhaps Hillary would have been doing a lot worse than Obama against McCain. But based on her performance in the primaries, and given the last polling the national firms did (and this was before the PUMA movement became so well-established), I highly doubt that would be the case.

An Obama SuperDelegate

If the SuperDelegates really ARE super, they will pick the person most likely to beat McCain in November, and that person, according to the best information we have, is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now that Hillary will be on the roll call vote, will the superdelegates insist on doing their jobs? Or will they hold on to their Precious until the fiery river of Mt. Electoral Doom engulfs them?