Color of Change which presumptuously bills itself as the premier national grassroots organization is the latest to jump into bully the super delegates for Obama game. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, DNC Chair Howard Dean tried their hand at it and failed. Now Color of Change says it will urge the alleged legions of activists it claims to speak for to petition and flood Pelosi, Reid, and Dean with letters demanding that they stop Clinton from hijacking the nomination. Reid, Pelosi, and Dean should toss this silly petition and their letters in the can. Here's why. The group claims that Clinton thumbs her nose at blacks, plays the race card (figure that contradiction out), sows divisions, and disenfranchises millions of voters. She also, they assert, falsely says that the Democratic race is a tie. This thwarts the will of the pledged delegates who overwhelmingly back Obama. These are all self-serving myths.The assumption that all blacks scream with one voice for Obama is foolish, arrogant, and racially myopic. In some states, mostly the South, blacks have voted ninety percent for Obama.But they also voted in nearly the same high percentage for white Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and John Kerry. Overall Clinton nets about one in five black voters. The Congressional Black Caucus remains split between Clinton and Obama. There are hundreds of prominent black state and local officials from New York governor David Patterson to the former chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus Mervyn Dymally that back Clinton. There are packs of black personalities, celebrities, business and professional persons that support Clinton. Even if all black voters backed Obama, the black vote is only one of several crucial vote demographics in the Democratic fold. The Democrat's hope to bag the presidency hardly hangs solely on the wishes of black voters. Color of Change's claim that a vote for Clinton disenfranchises millions is even more ludicrous. It ignores the nearly two million voters in Florida who overwhelmingly voted for Clinton and now because of a clueless and bungling DNC chair Dean they will likely remain disenfranchised. It also erases the millions of white, blue collar, rural, Latino, older white females (and a not inconsiderable number of black females), and Jewish voters who powered Clinton to big state and swing state victories. Without their vote neither Obama nor Clinton have a prayer of raising their hand in January at the presidential inauguration. Nearly one quarter of these voters are adamant that if Obama is the nominee they will vote for McCain or stay home. They apparently don't count either. Color of Change says that the Clinton/Dean claim of a tie in the popular vote is dead wrong. They're right. Clinton is ahead. Her total: 15,112,000 votes. Obama's total: 14,993,000 votes. The group charges that Obama has trounced Clinton in the number of pledged delegates. This is another myth. He has a bare eight percentage point lead over her in pledged delegates. If the Democratic primaries were winner take all as is the GOP's, Clinton would be decisively ahead of Obama in pledged delegates. Even with the Democrats confusing, shoot-themselves-in-the foot proportional system, count Florida for Clinton and she's ahead of Obama in the number of pledged delegates. A solid win in Indiana, West Virginia, and Kentucky, (North Carolina is suddenly very much in play for Clinton) and she'll be ahead or in striking distance of him in the number of pledged delegates.Color of Change scoffs at Clinton's claim of electability. But the magic number to win the White House is 270 electoral votes. To get those votes, a Democratic presidential nominee must beat McCain in a majority of the 15 key battleground states.Clinton won 9 battleground states in the primaries. They hold 116 electoral votes. The 6 battleground states Obama won hold 54 electoral votes.If Clinton wins the 15 solid Democratic states and the 9 battleground states, she wins the presidency with a comfortable 312 electoral vote. If Obama wins the 15 solid Democratic states and his 6 battleground states, he winds up with 250 electoral votes, and loses the presidency. In late April, polls in the three most crucial battleground states, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Clinton beats McCain by nearly 10 percentage points. Obama either trails is slightly behind or is only marginally ahead of McCain in those states. Clinton is competitive or outright beats McCain by corralling white blue collar, and rural voters. But Color of Change doesn't give a hoot about them. When Reid, Pelosi and Dean tried to bully the super delegates to make a down and dirty final decision most refused. Their job is to back the Democrat who can win. They must do their job again and tell Color of Change what it can do with its browbeating petition and letters. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage Press, February 2008)..
http://earlofarihutchinson.blogspot.com/
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed author and political analyst. He has authored ten books; his articles are published in newspapers and magazines nationally in the United States. Three of his books have been published in other (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
The agenda of the Power Elite has had the past 28 years to get to the point we are now at - Stripped Constitution, stripped Bill of Rights, stripped middle class, corporations make laws and govern those laws, the process of government is broken, and our economy is in the hands of corporate demands.
They are not about to let anybody or anything even attempt to change that now. Therefore, they will accept only a McCain-Clinton choice in November, as either of those will continue the agenda of the past 28 years. McCain has been ranting the GOP neocon mantra of late and Clinton's had a GOP upbringing and mindset forever although she receives democrat money. Obama, being an outsider, is considered a threat to their agenda, one who might just try to mend some of the wrongs to democracy that have occurred in those 28 years.
Should Obama actually be the nominee and appears to be the choice of the people in November one could actually see Bush pulling the Martial Law card and postponing the election. That may well be the reason we have had such a prolonged primary campaign - to enable the corporate media to get their share of the money in case that had to take place. Looking at what has been done within our government this could happen at the whim of George W. Bush. The possibility of postponing the election was "thrown out" at 9/11 by Giuliani if one recalls. It was short-lived, but it was presented. The corporate media machine I am certain learned from that on how to "sell" it this time around.
The corporate media is doing their part in selling the McCain-Clinton ticket and the corporate vote counters are as well. It might be coincidence, but the states in which Clinton has tallied more votes are California, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The first three are known to be corrupt in their vote counts. In Pennsylvania's Philadelphia predominantly black areas there were problems of not enough machines and the others have histories of illegalities. Also, in Texas the machines gave Clinton the edge, but the people in the caucuses favored Obama.
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Dennis Kaiser (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 730 comments [137 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 5:58:09 AM
A well thought-out and presented argument, a rarity in most comments one sees during this election. You have pointed out the situation that exists although the reality is very upsetting to Obama supporters.
During the early debates between Democrats, some political commentators said this was the Democrats election to lose when winning should have been easy, based on the problems the country was facing. Although few think it is possible, a Clinton/Obama ticket would bring all Democrats together in a landslide. Either candidate alone, or with Obama at the head of the matchup, would likely end up with McCain as president.
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TheSeeker (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 28 comments) on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 6:01:07 PM
Many are saying that a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket would be the dream. The corporate media propagandists continue to throw that out there, but they may have the wrong individuals they are touting.
As this primary campaign drags on one thing is becoming more clear than ever before - Clinton is willing to say or do anything that will put her in the White House. Even if that means she must make certain that McCain defeats Obama in the fall election as one would seem to think McCain will only last a single term and then Clinton can run again in 2012.
BUT, couldn't she better ensure a 2012, or sooner, ascent to the Oval Office if she joined McCain on the ticket, thus creating a "Dream TIcket"? After all, her roots are those of the Conservative, her votes have been those of a Conservative, and her apparent lust for war blends well with the mindset of that side of the aisle.
Lately it is as though Obama is running against Clinton and McCain as it is. This may just be a preview of what is to come.
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Dennis Kaiser (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 730 comments [137 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 7:51:55 AM
Yes. I have been fearing this myself, or also something more dire. This is one of the main reasons we should pressure delegates to get rid of her NOW to get her out of the limelight ASAP. She has become very detrimental to the Democratic side of this race after all.
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Pat (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments) on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 1:17:55 AM
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