The Hillary Clinton campaign continues to hunt for a viable rationale for her being the nominee. At the start of the primary season, she was Hillary!, elect me I’m the inevitable nominee. The inevitable nominee morphed into HRH Hillary, the elect me, the nominee by divine right. That didn’t gain traction, so she became Hillary 
, help me, I’m a victim. That did pay dividends and she occasionally reprises the role when she thinks it will gain her a couple of votes. After Hillary , she became the conscience of the nation, Shame on you Barack! Hillary as the nation’s conscience was just laughable, and Hillary the fearless war-time diplomat was discredited about as fast as the lies came out of her mouth. Lately her rationale is a bit baser: elect me I’m white! At least that’s true.
Her supporters, no doubt in close coordination with the campaign, have a new one: We Own this Party. Nancy Pelosi recently said this: “If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what’s happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party.” Pelosi didn’t mention either candidate in connection with the remark, which seems to me to be nothing more than a blinding glimpse of the obvious. Pelosi did not opine that the superdelegates were bound to vote in accordance with the primary results, she just stated the effect of a candidate overcoming a pledged delegate deficit, i.e., losing the primary race, by way of superdelegates. That didn’t sit well with the Clinton campaign. A number of her supporters wrote Pelosi and essentially threatened to withhold their financial support if she didn’t toe the Clinton line of “the superdelegates should exercise their independent judgment,” a Clinton euphamism for “vote for me.” (Lost on the Clinton team is the notion that a superdelegate’s independent judgment might agree with Pelosi’s sentiment). The putative owners of the Democratic party wrote:
We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.
They’re not even coy about why Pelosi should take the action they seek: “We’ve been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge. . .” Moreover, these ersatz Daddy Warbucks not only demand Pelosi retract her comments about he superdelegates, they demand she endorse the current Clinton talking point that all delegates–pledged or super– are free to vote for whichever candidate they choose.
I suppose it would be asking too much for Pelosi to basically say “fuck you” to these fat cats and endorse Obama at the same time, but she should. I’m sure these folks have contributed lots of cash to the Democratic party but I doubt it’s as much as Obama’s donors have raised and in the end analysis, they only get to cast one vote each. There are thousands of people across this country who devote countless hours to the Democratic party. I believe they are far more responsible for any success the party has than are the donors like these, who act like high maintenance dogs, in constant need of attention and affirmation. Sometimes a dog needs a pop on the nose. Here’s hoping Pelosi gives them one.
Tags: democratic party, Election '08, hillary clinton, nancy pelosi
