Dear Editor,
In his letter, “Hillary Clinton has an ace up her sleeve,” (08.03.10), Mr Robin Williams cited Senator Clinton’s seemingly smart decision to keep her name on ballots in Florida and Michigan, in the event that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reverses itself on an earlier ruling and allows delegates from the two states to be both counted and seated at the party’s August convention in Denver, Colorado.
Well, first of all, if this is Senator Clinton’s only ace, she certainly will not overtake Senator Barack Obama’s lead, unless she wins re-votes in Florida, Michigan and fresh votes in all the remaining states by better than 20 points.
To this end, she has been reaching up her sleeves for lots of muddy tricks and kitchen sinks loaded with broken dishes that she has been throwing in an attempt to thwart Senator Obama’s efforts, but which could wind up doing irreparable damage to the party.
Second, the DNC simply will not change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Senator Clinton. However, under pressure from the Clintons and their high ranking Democratic friends the DNC seems willing to accommodate Florida and Michigan re-votes, perhaps using a mail-in format. The principled Senator Obama was not the one who called for re-votes but he is willing, nevertheless, to go along with whatever the DNC decides!
And speaking of principle, while Senator Clinton may be a smart politician, she clearly is not a principled politician! After the DNC’s ruling against Florida and Michigan, it behooved the Democratic candidates seeking their party’s nomination, to lead by example and honour the DNC’s ruling by staying away from both states’ primaries.
The principled Senators Obama and John Edwards honoured the DNC, while the unprincipled Senator Clinton did not. I wonder, in the event of re-votes, have Senator Clinton and the DNC given any thought as to how unfair re-voting would be to Senator Edwards who was still in the race when both states held their primaries?
Third, the only reason why the DNC and other Democratic leaders are now feverishly clamouring for re-votes in both states is because Senator Clinton, being the establishment candidate, is trailing Senator Obama in the number of states won, in the popular votes and, more importantly, in the important pledged delegates count. Any other candidate would have been laughed out of contention.
Less than a year ago, with the ‘Clinton’ name recognition, a 50-point lead in opinion polls, a swelling campaign chest, and nationwide backing of the DNC as the shoo-in candidate, she oozed with so much confidence that in a December 2007 interview she predicted she will wrap up the nomination by Super Tuesday, February 5th.
Unfortunately for her, Senator Obama, who did not have the establishment’s nationwide backing, did a magnificent job generating nationwide grass roots support, raising more money and running a superb campaign, that literally prevented Senator Clinton’s Super Tuesday coronation.
Stung by his huge successes, Senator Clinton resorted to mudslinging. When that didn’t work, she decided to hinge her bets on the super delegates, only to discover many started expressing support for Senator Obama and were literally saying they will not go against the will of the people.
So, she now has to reach up her sleeves for anything she can find and not just rely on re-votes in Florida and Michigan. In fact, she and her husband are now talking desperately about a Clinton-Obama ticket, with Obama as VP. Hello? In Pennsylvania, where she holds double digit leads over Senator Obama, that state’s governor, who is backing Senator Clinton, conveniently cited bad weather when he extended the deadline for filing delegate slates, and this turned out to help Senator Clinton, because Senator Obama’s people had completed their filings on time.
In Puerto Rico, where the Democratic Party chairman is a Clinton-backer, a decision was made last week to switch the voting format from caucus to primary and push back the contest date, because caucuses favour Senator Obama and primaries favour Senator Clinton.
Senator Clinton’s biggest mistake, perhaps a combination of arrogance and ignorance, was to believe it was her political birthright to be the nominee, so she catered only for the big-delegates states and not the small-delegates states. She also didn’t cater for Barack Obama! Now she needs every remaining state’s, and maybe even Senator Obama’s, help to win.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
