The current controversy with the Democrats counting Michigan and Florida has everything to do with a candidate's lack of character. by Bob Nightingale
(libertarian)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Although I didn't vote as a Democrat in Michigan's presidential primary last January, I have family members who normally do. Their choices at the time were Clinton, Gravel, Dodd, Kucinich, or Uncommitted. The write-in line was there, but it didn't count.
Michigan is a strong labor state, and would probably have put Edwards into the running. My family really likes Obama -- even some who voted as Republican. There was no enthusiasm to run out and vote "Uncommitted". The voters took the Democratic National Committee at their word that their vote wasn't going to count. Everyone assumed no delegates from Michigan would be seated at the convention.
For Florida, you might be able to blame the Republicans for some of the problems there. But that isn't the case in Michigan. We have a Democratic governor here. Jennifer Granholm should have known what she was signing when she approved the resolution to move the primary up to January. She's also a Clinton supporter. In Michigan, the Democrats brought this on themselves.
The days leading up to the primary then were surprisingly quiet, compared to the campaigning not long ago across the border in neighboring Indiana. Back in August, all the major Democratic candidates, including Clinton and Obama signed a loyalty pledge not to campaign or become involved in the primaries of states that move their dates ahead of Super Tuesday. Obama, Edwards, Biden and Richardson assumed their votes weren't going to count, so they sent in letters to remove their names. Clinton didn't bother.
Back in November, I commented that she wasn't keeping with her pledge ([link edited for length]), and I questioned her sincerity. I wrote it off partially to being sloppy. Now that she's losing by a slight margin, it looks calculated. I also said, by her remaining on the ballot, it's like handing the election to her, since she didn't have to spend any money campaigning in a large state. In a few days, we'll see if I got that one right.
The refrain "we want every vote to count" rings hollow when it comes at the end of the campaign. Last August, she should have made that plea when she was the frontrunner. Had Clinton stood up then and pressured the DNC to count at least half the votes, as their rules allow and as did the Republicans, millions of dollars for this primary would not have been wasted.
This weekend, the DNC will consider some compromise to solve this mess. If I were running the Obama campaign, I would dust off a copy of the original pledge signed last August and tell the Committee to be true to their word. There are plenty of people in Michigan who would have voted had they had real options on the ballot. All they had was "Clinton or else." There is no vote to count.
Barack Obama is running on a campaign of "change". One of those changes I would like to see is for our candidates to speak plainly and do what they say they will do. The country does not want to go back to the impeachment hearings of Mr. Clinton, where we had to put up with what "is" is. It's getting old.
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The party named for democracy doesn't seem to have much interest in democracy. And Hillary doesn't have much interest in the truth. She lies even when there is no reason for it, like the comment; "We landed in Bosnia under sniper fire."
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