Beware News Of Superdelegates, Done Deals and Orange Alerts (and just vote for Obama).

By Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion. Contact him at pointblankdta@yahoo

 

Plans to discourage you from voting for he whom will eventually become the Democratic Party nominee; Barack Obama are already being drawn. No I can't swear by that but trust my paranoid intuition (which rarely fails if ever). It seems to me the more voters go to the polls, the less credit is given to them nowadays for ushering in a winner. A couple weeks back CNN (and according to a friend of mine ABC) only highlighted Hillary's and McCain's voter count during the primaries, basically censoring Obama's results in order to give you the impression that Hil was dominating. On Super Tuesday CNN only acknowledged 2 or 3 states that Obama won while Ms. Clinton was ahead by at least 3 or 4 states.

  I went to bed that night only to wake up hearing on the radio (on a right wing talk station at that) that Obama had won decisively 13 states to 9 for Clinton. The fix was on I thought to myself, the big networks were trying to manipulate the election updates pretty much the same way they left off with the 2000 general election. Desperate measures were being used to hide the true ongoing Tally's by making the loser look important. But it didn't work on Super Tuesday and it shouldn't work today. Historically in this nation nothing was more feared than the black vote, lives were lost just on the suspicion of a black contemplating a trip to the booth. Couple that with the majority of the nation's blacks voting for a black candidate and you got a nightmare that even the most poker-faced white network power broker can't endure.

  Not only are blacks voting for Obama, whites males, youths who ordinarily would not have registered this soon; including college students, and the same white females Hil's "cry me a river" tears won over in New Hamphire, are starting to desert her in other states. This isn't good news for Hil because according to a recent Economist women make up 60% of the democratic vote. Another element to throw off your enthusiasm for voting for Obama is the sidebar discussion of this years campaign buzz-term "Superdelegates."

  These mysterious powerful democrats are being touted as the final decision makers as to whether or not that candidate receives the democratic party nomination. In 2000 the word "delegate" was taken out the deep freeze and mentioned around the nation. This time around, the implication is, you need Superdelegates to stop the tide of a super candidate or perhaps black candidate with super national appeal. Superdelegates wield considerable power, they comprise almost 800 of the 4,049 delegates at a convention (20%) and are made up of ex-presidents, senators, congressmen and high ranking shot callers. Reportedly one of them is worth 10,000 votes. As powerful as they are however, they have one kryptonite, you. The more the nation leans towards a candidate, the more likely voters influence the delegates and the least likely the Superdelegate will vote against the tide.

  Superdelegates don't call themselves Superdelegates nor are they a new phenomenon. They really like to be known as unpledged party members and they have been around officially since 1980 in order to give a greater role to active politicians. Your vote can still beat out the ruling of a Superdelegate, Howard Dean was way ahead in the delegate count back in '04 but still lost due to caucus votes. This role of these unpledged decision makers could become a major factor this fall if Obama and Clinton still aren't able to get the needed delegates to win the democratic nomination. If this is the case then a scenario known as the brokered convention enters the picture. This is when a nomination is decided by a smoking room decision by a select few with little regard for the public. Ironically enough, one of y'all's previous black presidents was selected in this manner in Obama's home town of Chicago. Only this was back in 1920 when republican senators selected Warren G. Harding as their next President.
 

I tossed in the threat of an Orange Alert as a possible last resort scare tactic in case Obama wins the nomination and someone decides the only way to get white guy back into the Oval Office is to raise news of a terror-threat and hope Americans respond by voting republican (even though our last 2 domestic hits were planned during republican administrations). In the meantime don't be swayed away from the caucuses by too much news of election outcomes by any other factors than you the voter. This is a historic time and you don't want to be on the sidelines giving your voting power away to rumors and haters. Nothing is a "Done Deal" unless you done decided not to Get out and Vote.