Barack Obama is arguing that the Democratic so-called "super-delegates" who are United States Representatives, Senators, Governors, former presidential and vice-presidential nominees, and members of the DNC from the various states, as well as some others, should vote for the candidate who wins a majority of the elected delegates, not counting, of course, Michigan and Florida. He is also suggesting that if they don't agree to this idea, they are somehow defying the will of the voters.
Here's our quesition: Why should a United States Representative from say Ohio, whose district votes for Clinton in the March 4th primary, vote for Obama just because he wins elsewhere? Isn't it more democratic for such a representative to vote the way his or her district votes?
Of course what Obama doesn't want is for the super-delegates to decide the nomination if he can't win their votes, Thus, his suggestion that they should all vote for the candidate with most voted on delegates. Of course, this means that whether elected officials vote for Obama or Clinton would depend on the structure adopted by other states to select candidates. What if our hypothetical representative believes that the caucus system in Iowa or Nevada is inherently undemocratic and not as fair as a primary? Why should they have to go along with a candidate who has won a majority of delegates using such a system?
Under the idea expressed above, super-delegates in the individual states would reflect the wishes of the Democrats in their state and not the wishes of Democrats in other states. This strikes me as a lot fairer and also, quite frankly, gets the super-delegates off the hook.
If I were such a delegate, I would be announcing that that is how I will vote at the convention. It is a fair idea and doesn't favor either Clinton or Obama. It also takes the uncertainity out of the process and reinforces the decisions of voters and caucus attendees.
It's not perfect, but frankly it is fairer than the system being urged by Obama. His system is designed to help him, it is not designed to give expression to the wishes of Democrats in the various states.
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I can understand your point about representatives voting for who their district supported. But then senators and those superdelegates not representing just a portion of a state should vote for who the majority of their state chose, in my opinion. We are a union of states, each one having different rules. Sometimes it seems preferable not to be that way, but that is how we are set up. The whole idea of superdelegates is, in my option, not the best tactic anyway, as it favors those who have been entrenched in the system and not those trying to break through and make change.
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