An Undemocratic Democratic Primary

Michigan and Florida Controversy

It began in January when Michigan and Florida decided to hold their primary elections earlier than the Democratic Party requested. The states felt that holding the primaries earlier would better represent their voters in the primary process, rather than being forced to wait until smaller states set the tone for things to come. This was particularly the case with Florida Democrats who feel they were cheated in the 2000 presidential election.

Feeling a need to assert its mettle, the Democratic Party refused to count the votes of the two states; party authority being more important than voters to be represented.

The Democratic Party decided to seat only half of each state’s delegates at the Democratic National Convention (DNC); stripping over 600,000 Democrats of their votes and representation.

Silencing and Manipulation of Delegates.

As the DNC neared, state delegates won by Clinton were urged by the Obama and Clinton campaigns to cast their votes for Sen. Obama. Discontented delegates have been silenced.

One delegate outraged at the Democratic Party and Clinton for ignoring the choice of California voters is high powered attorney, Gloria Allread. "I was not elected to be a potted plant," Allred said. Hillary "doesn't have the legal power" to decide what voters represent her.

Another Clinton delegate said that whether he voted for Clinton would depend what she asked for in her DNC speech, not voter choices.

Is that how the democratic process works? Are votes now tokens to be swapped about as candidates and Party’s decide are best?

The Super Delegate

In case voters fail to elect a favorite of Democratic Party leaders, Super Delegates are used to manipulate the outcome. These are members of the Democrat Party who have a delegate vote, equal in weight to a state delegate, to cast for a candidate of their choice! Candidates need 2,025 delegate votes to win the party's nomination and there are 842 Super Delegates!

Hypocrisy

The Democratic Party railed that Florida voters were denied their vote for president in 2000 but in 2008 have denied 600,000 Democrats the right to vote because of pride or more likely a dislike of Hillary Clinton. This was not unavoidable. Unlike in 2000 the Democratic Party cannot blame the Supreme Court or Republicans for such a gross violation of Constitutional Rights. The Democratic Party made this decision to not allow the Michigan or Florida delegates on its own and in January, 8 months ago.

No matter the reasoning, the Democratic Party denied Florida and Michigan voters their constitutional right. Primaries are part of the US Presidential Election Process and votes in them are protected by the US Constitution.

One question looming is, where was the advocate of ‘’change’’ during this? Where was Sen. Obama?

Sen. Obama had this to say, “I recognize that there were compromises on all sides… I hope that we can start focusing our attention on the substance as opposed to just the process of politics.”

Clearly he is not interested in changing anything. He is interested in being elected president. He would rather Florida have no vote if it wasn’t for him. He stated on April 13, 2008 at a primary debate "By the way, I have to say, I think Al Gore won [the 2008 election]."

Obama’s stance is that Florida votes should have counted in 2000 but Florida and Michigan votes shouldn't in 2008.

The 2008 Democratic Party’s Presidential Nomination Process does not reflect the agenda nor the respect for civil rights that the Democratic Party claims to defend. Democrat voters should be outraged.

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