Hillary Petitions To Give OBAMA the Win!
Hillary Clinton has a petition on her website that you can "sign" to show your support for seating the Florida and Michigan delegations. It says:
"Florida and Michigan Deserve to be Heard
Millions of people in Florida and Michigan went to the polls to make their voices heard in the Democratic Presidential primary. They deserve to have their votes count. Add your name to show your support for seating the Florida and Michigan delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August."
Now, who could argue with that? In fact, everyone from Howard Dean to Donna Brazile to Barack Obama himself thinks that the delegations should and will be seated. Every state should have the opportunity to be represented by politicos wearing funny hats, buttons and streamers on national TV. It's Bozo's Circus for grups.
The HillaryClinton.com screen provides spaces to enter your name, e-mail, zip code and a comment showing your support for a concept that has no opposition.
Ah, but hitting enter does NOT take you to a "Thank you, Captain Obvious" screen. Rather, you slide down a cyber-rabbit hole to a "Thank you, now give us MONEY" screen.
Yes, you'd think that a high-minded appeal to citizen-driven democracy would be able to stand on its own, but no! The implication here is plain: if you REALLY believe in democracy, you'll give Hillary money.
Let's examine that last idea of belief and donations. Clinton is asking people to put their money where their keyboards are and funnel cash to her quixotic campaign to overcome Obama's insurmountable lead in (pick 1) states won, delegates won, popular votes won or funds raised.
But there is a small, niggling little point, a fly in the ointment, a pea under Princess Hillary's mattress that she's hoping you won't notice: Hillary herself doesn't believe enough in her chances to win to donate to her own cause.
We've heard for several weeks now how the Clinton campaign is in the red. The much-ballyhooed but undocumented $10 million overnight bump she received after Pennsylvania neatly filled in the $10 million hole she was in. But now that it's coming down to the wire, if things were really as close as Hillary says they are, wouldn't another $5 or even $10 million dollar loan of her own cash help to put her over the top?
This tells me that Hillary knows that she can't win, and one of the reasons she can't is this very petition. Because even if Florida and Michigan give Hillary the lead in popular votes, they will give Obama the nomination on delegate count.
Let's say you give Obama 33% of the 211 Florida delegates, based on his showing in the meaningless beauty contest there. That's 70. And let's further stipulate that he gets the 40% "uncommitted" from the even more meaningless contest in Michigan. That's 63 more delegates. Add those to his current pledged plus superdelegate total of 1735 (source: RealClearPolitics.com) and you get 1868.
That's only 156 votes short of nomination, with 408 delegates still to come in the remaining primaries and 280 or so uncommitted superdelegates. Which means Hillary could get 3 out of every 4 of the remaining delegates, and she'd still lose by 16 votes.
So if you sign this petition, hoping that the Hillary gets the popular vote and the proportional delegates that she won in Michigan and Florida, be careful what you wish for.
Because Barack Obama wants exactly the same thing.
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Hey you should send this article to your huffpost colleagues Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Taylor Marsh
They and their readers could use a dose of reality
Beautiful Chip. Nice going, well said. I didn't know it was all so simple and do very done!!!
Yeah Obama! A campaign very consistent and very well run despite the barrage of ridiculous petty flack from our very sad media.
Collis knows what other people think-----
WHO AMONG US KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT MONTH--------OR NEXT WEEK--------OR TOMORROW??
Clinton should not abandon her supporters because soothsaying pundits say so. Candidates take millions from sincere supporters with the expectation that their choice will be persistent, devoted to the cause, and determined to defeat the other party!!
According to Collis, 16 delegate votes will end Clinton's campaign. Not yet!!!
You think that 17 or 26 or 44 delegates can't change their minds by August?
And panicked folks insist that the Democrats need to focus on Defeating McCain now, and that August, September, and October are not enough time to win the White House. Silliness!!
I have campaigned for Democratic candidates since JFK won. I am as wildly liberal as the next rebel, but I now realize that voting for Shirley Chisolm, Pat Paulson, Michael Dukakis, and George McGovern were emotional decisions. I forgot that there is a vast middle ground of busy, average Joe, center of the bell curve voters who do not want extreme changes.
I now realize that millions of people don't want extreme choices. Instead, they look for a mature candidate who relates to and supports their average American life.: " Sure, make things better, safer, more just and honest, but don't upset things too much. I'm busy working------I'll make a decision when I enter the voting booth, and I'm not going to stray too far from the middle".
You go girl. There is nothing wrong with supporting your candidate to the very end. The game is not over until it is over. Just looks over and most likely is.
Yes, honoring the intrinsic dignity of every citizen is "extreme" in today's political world and in the ways of the past, but it must be done. Obama will bring a greater dignity to our country and to humanity in general as no other candidate would be able to.
No other person running has his inherent integrity. I am so happy for all of us.
What Obama didn't agree to was Hill's version of a revote, in which ppl who had voted GOP the first time would not be allowed to revote as Dem. Problem is, lots of Dems crossed over to GOP b/c the Dem one wouldn't count, so her plan is flawed and doesn't allow Dems' voices to be truly heard in a legitimate revote. Ppl forget that.
Because it disenfranchises the independents who voted in the Republican race because the DNC told them the Dem race in MI wouldn't count. Obama tends to poll more favorably with Independents than Hillary does. Have the senior citizens stay home for the revote and we'll call it a wash.
The math here is wrong. Because if Michigan and Florida are added, the number required for a majority goes up. If the total number of delegates in play is increased, then the half-way mark is increased too, right? So adding states in which Clinton gets more delegates than Obama helps Clinton. That's why the Obama campaign isn't agreeing to any plans that give Clinton a majority of Florida and Michigan delegates.
What are you talking about. I just went on the website, and I could find no such petition. If someone can, please let me know.
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