|
|
Add to My Group
Wild Wonderful West Virginia may, when the last vote is counted (or tossed out) give Senator Clinton 18 pledged delegates and Senator Obama 10. It'll be pretty close to that, and if that's the final count, then the new totals will be Obama 1,602 and Clinton 1,440. There are 189 delegates left to be pledged. Of those, Clinton must win 176 of them, or 93 percent, in order to beat Obama. Obama, on the other hand, only needs to win 14 more delegates for the whole charade to be over. There are 103 delegates on the line next Tuesday in Kentucky and Oregon. There's not a single employee of any of the media outlets promoting this phony contest that believes Obama could possibly win fewer than 14 delegates in Kentucky and Oregon. Just as it has been over for several months, it's still over. The contest may be even more over than these numbers suggest. At least one pledged delegate (in Maryland) has said he will go against the voters of his state and switch his vote from Clinton to Obama. John Edwards has 19 delegates, and he is expected to encourage them to back Obama. Among super delegates Obama also has a majority. But these are all types of delegates not chosen by voters. Among pledged delegates chosen by voters and caucus goers - that is, among the only delegates who should count - it's over. Clinton cannot win. Period. She can only hope for an anti-democratic coup by Super Delegates that would destroy the Democratic Party. And she'd have to be delusional to even hope for THAT at this point. So, why does the corporate media behave as if it's still a contest, and why does the independent media obediently fall into line? Presumably those two questions have two different answers. When has any other candidate been kept on life-support by media corporations in this way? Hasn't the standard for dropping out always been - for every other candidate - the impossibility of winning, not actually having lost? What can Clinton hope to gain from staying in other than hurting Obama's chances in order to avoid his running as an incumbent in 4 years? And why is it so difficult for people to think for themselves and let the media and the Super Delegates and the Democratic Party know that WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH? Don't believe me? Don't know how to do addition? Don't own a calculator? Here's a video of Chris Matthews admitting the media's role in this farce: Here's how you can contact the DNC: 877-336-7200 or
http://www.davidswanson.org DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2008 |
|
