It is interesting to watch the slow motion Democratic train wreck, for so many reasons. For the first time in history a black man and a woman are battling it out to be the nominee of one of America’s two parties. The contest is close and has become heated at times, which has led to some depressing actions from the Clinton campaign.

Sadly, Obama’s victory in South Carolina went just as the Clinton’s hoped it would. Obama’s crushing victory was portrayed by the Clintons as a result of race, nothing more. Bill immediately came out and made a very ugly statement on TV.




Get it? Barack is black. So is Jesse Jackson. Never mind the many white candidates who have won South Carolina over the years, but come up short in the race to be the Democratic nominee. They aren’t as good of an example. Jesse Jackson represents the old school black candidate. He’s the guy black people vote for and whites don’t, a glaring example of the separation between blacks and whites in our country. With his simple statement, Bill Clinton was telling white America that Barack Obama is the black candidate and that is something to fear.

Many want to deny this is what their precious Clintons were up to. They claim Bill misspoke or the footage was edited to remove context. Both are bullshit excuses. The transcript is available for all to read and Bill is the guy who came up with the delightful quote, “Depends what your definition of “is” is.” He doesn’t make mistakes when he speaks, his clever oratory abilities are what got him into the White House.

Add to that, this little Clinton campaign quote and it’s pretty obvious what the Clintons were doing.

The Clintons are ugly human beings. The goal is to take us back in time 20 years, push America to see Obama simply as the candidate of blacks, like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, and cause his support among whites, Hispanics and other ethnic groups to plummet. Hopefully it backfires.

Sadly, this is just one of many aspects of the current race that has the possibility of tearing the Democratic Party apart. Right now there are three big, ugly elephants sitting in the room and Dems are hoping they don’t start to roar or take a huge, pachyderm shit. Problem number two involves delegate stripping and problem number three is the super delegate.

It’s cute that many of you Democrats believe your vote counts. It doesn’t. You are meaningless. I mean, you get to vote and your vote is tallied and hopefully your candidate is nominated. But if the race is close and it comes down to the last few states, then you are meaningless. The Democratic Party made sure long ago that you filthy, little peasants wouldn’t pick a candidate they didn’t like.

In the '70s, things did not go the way party leaders wanted them to go. George McGovern won in '72, then got his ass kicked by Nixon. Then outsider Jimmy Carter won in '76 – and immediately battled his own party in Congress. Next up, Ted Kennedy further fractured the party in 1980 by running against Carter. Democratic insiders had had enough of this democracy bullshit. Their way of fixing the system was to invent super delegates.

Party leaders created super delegates in 1982, to control the nomination process. Democratic leaders gave themselves a large portion of delegates that have nothing to do with the voting process. They are members of Congress, governors and elected members of the DNC. Altogether, there are 796 super delegates, or 20% of the number needed to secure the nomination. Would you vote in the general election if you knew that 20% of the votes would come from a bunch of government insiders? How exactly is that democracy?

But, it works out for everybody involved. The delegates have massive power, which leads to back scratching (money and jobs) from the future president. This year, Hillary has already won the backing of an overwhelming number of super delegates. If voters were electing the Democratic nominee, Hillary would be behind Obama 48-63. With super delegates added in, Hillary is actually ahead 249-179. How’s your democracy going, suckers?

If this continues, or is at all a factor when the convention rolls around, the Democrats will have a civil war on their hands. The party will split in two and a massive number of Democratic voters will become disillusioned. So, what should a candidate do during these uneasy times? A smart candidate would makes sure they legitimately secure the nomination and not rock the boat. But Hillary Clinton is a power hungry idiot.

In December, the Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their votes. They were forced to do because Michigan and Florida moved up their primaries, after being repeatedly warned not to do so. Now Hillary is challenging that decision; shockingly right after she won Michigan, where she was the only nominee to appear on the ballot. More on that in a minute first lets get back to the stripping.

Michigan has been complaining for years about Iowa and New Hampshire going first. Michigan party leaders believe the two states are really, really white and, therefore, do not fully represent the nation. Also, Michigan has been hit by difficult economic times and the state wants candidates to address the issues, instead of skipping it every year. Michigan threatened to move it’s primary up in 2000 and 2004. Both times, the DNC begged the state not to, and guaranteed the process would change "next time." But, it never did. So, this year, Michigan moved their primary up, to January 15th.

Now, this put the DNC is a very difficult position. What is the point of having rules, if they are not punished when broken? (See Bush White House) Also, if the DNC did not do something, states would just keep pushing up their dates in an attempt to be first and we would end up starting primaries in October. There has to be some sort of order, but Michigan took a chance and ended up getting kneed the nuts. In the long run, it will benefit everyone because the DNC will be forced to look at the current lame primary system. But, in 2008, Michigan is screwed.

Florida was a different story. Republicans hosed the Democrats in Florida. The Republican legislature voted to move the primary up and the GOP governor signed off, knowing it would fuck over Democrats in the state. It was completely out of Florida Democrats control. And to add to the heinous act, Republicans have a pretty, little ballot measure they love on the January 29th ballot. By eliminating the importance of the Democratic nomination process, they lessen the number of Democratic voters who will head to the polls and can win their “property tax relief” ballot measure. It is classic Republican democracy, which always focuses on the best way to get less people to vote. The DNC also stripped Florida of it's delegates.

Florida and Michigan are still demanding their delegates are counted at the convention. Michigan already voted and Hillary won with 55%, because Kucinich was the only other candidate on the ballot. Hillary also pulled a sleazy move by getting the Michigan governor, a Clinton supporter, to change the rules so write-ins would be tossed out. You literally could not vote for Obama or Edwards in Michigan if you wanted to. But, that’s our Hillary. Whatever it takes.

And she’s not done. Hillary is now making noise to get Michigan’s 174 delegates and Florida’s 210 delegates counted. Now. Not before the Michigan primary. After. When she had won the state. Against no competition. Because the other candidates were following the rules of the DNC.

Her timing in asking for the delegates to be counted now is obvious and sleazy. Some would call it good politics, others, with brains, would call it disillusioning and Rovian. Hillary’s reasoning is obvious. She is making this move before the Florida election to get in the good graces of Democrats in Florida, where Barack is also on the ballot, unlike Michigan. And just to make things pleasant and keep the party intact, she’s publicly saying that if the other Democratic candidates support the DNC decision, they will appear to be anti-Michigan and anti-Florida. She is also campaigning in Florida. This all comes just a couple of months after she gave her word that she would do no such thing.

Politically, in a winner-take-all world, it’s a great idea. If she is able to win and make these delegates count, she will get the nomination. But, it is not winner-take-all. It's a primary process and she needs her opponents supporters to side with her if she wins the nomination. Will the price she will pay for winning the Democratic nomination be worth it?

Or, to put it another way; how fucking stupid is Hillary Clinton? The all out war to win the nomination will have consequences. These tactics could easily push her over the edge and Obama’s supporters will feel she stole her victory by being underhanded. Hardball politics has unintended consequences and she is playing as hardball as it gets. What will black voters think if the Clinton’s version of the Southern Strategy works? What will Obama’s new, young voters think if the rules are changed and the delegates suddenly count? And what will all Democrats think if Hillary wins the nomination because a bunch of Washington DC politicians had the final say? Her actions are inexcusable. I'm actually starting to wonder if all those right wing people attacking Hillary throughout the 90s were right and I doubt I'm alone.

Welcome to the Democratic train wreck. In a year when they should have it all, they are throwing it away.