Broken Brokers
Two candidates continue to battle for the Democratic nomination, but the Party itself is suffering a Super Tuesday hangover.
The Democrats’ practice of awarding convention delegates on a proportionate basis — according to the results of primaries and caucuses — is threatening to result in a Clinton-Obama statemate.
And this, in turn, could move the Party’s decision-making back into the shadows, into the hands of “super delegates,” 796 Democratic power brokers obliged to follow no vote result and accountable to no one for how they cast their ballot.
Even after his decisive victories yesterday — in Washington State, Louisiana, and Nebraska — Obama didn’t fully close the gap in delegates.
He started off the day behind Hillary, 1,031 to 1,081. He ended the day 1,120 to 1,123 (according to Real Clear Politics) or 1,070 to 1,095 (according to the AP). Both tallies try to include super delegates that have indicated a preference.
Of course, if Hillary wins big states such as Texas and Ohio on March 3, and Pennsylvania on April 22, she will not take away more than her majority share of delegates. So proportionality still rules.
But this system of awarding delegates — dating back to the 1970s — only works well when there’s a clear front-runner or multiple candidates. When there are only two, closely-matched candidates, the results are about as decisive as an Italian coalition government.
Party Chairman Howard Dean’s comments yesterday certainly give cause for concern. If the remaining primaries don’t yield a clear winner, he said, it would be good for the two sides to work out a deal.
Fat chance.
This is a dream scenario for the Republicans. They could say (with reason) that the Democratic Party was broken and wasn’t very, well, democratic.
While this danger looms, the fight over who will challenge John McCain continues, and Hillary and Barack are each using the tactic of projecting themselves as the prospective candidate by attacking McCain instead of each other. Last night, Obama emphasized foreign policy:
Finally, it is time to turn the page on eight years of a foreign policy that has made us less safe and less respected in the world. If I am the nominee of this party, John McCain will not be able to say that I agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq; agreed with him on giving George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; and agree with him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don’t like. Because that doesn’t make us look strong, it makes us look arrogant. John F. Kennedy said that you should never negotiate out of fear, but you should never fear to negotiate. And that’s what I will do as President. I don’t just want to end this war in Iraq, I want to end the mindset that got us into war. It is time to turn the page.
Before any “pages” can be “turned,” however, Democrats have to resolve their internal struggle, which is itself becoming a real “page turner.”