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It is everywhere. Robert Reich posted it on FB. Bernie supporters are all over the internet claiming dirty tricks, “typical Clinton tactics” and yelling “poor Bernie”. Pundits, starting for me with Chris Hayes of MSNBC, are all over it. It goes on and on and on. And it is typical and sad at the same time. The monster we keep hearing about? The dreaded “SUPER DELEGATE”. The creation, according to some, of Debbie Wasserman Shultz herself. The demonic spawn of the Clintons to foil poor Bernie and cheat him out of delegates. The latest caper of the DNC and “establishment” Democrats to stop the “real” people’s candidate. I have seen it, read it, been bombarded with it all day on FB, twitter, Pinterest, multiple blogs, local news stations. OMG there are Super Delegates. Positively un-American, anti-Democratic and personally developed by the “machine” to eat the other delegates. Ok, maybe not eat them. As I read these multiple internet outrages, I find it necessary to write this little piece to bring some peace to the discourse.
Before people go off insulting Debbie Wasserman Shultz for her "bias in favor or Hillary" or condemning Hillary for "rigging the system" they should actually read the Constitution and study the history of the primary processes. Since Civics classes were largely discontinued in the USA under the “No Child Left Behind Act” in 2001, very few millennials actually have studied the Constitution or the process of government. They got “social studies” instead and that was only enough to pass a standardized test. Unfortunately, when you start explaining Civics, Constitutional principles, US electoral history, people’s eyes glaze over and the words fall on the sleeping ears of the audience. So let’s use an analogy that makes sense to large swathes of the US electorate. I will use a TV talent show* to illustrate how this works.
What is happening now is called Primary Season. Most people I speak to confuse this with “Election Season”. There are even Supervisors of Election in Florida that have confused them and told people the deadline to register to vote for President is February 29, 2016. What is the difference between Primary Season and Election Season? Those of you who are familiar with talent shows would call Primary Season the audition shows. Anyone can come on, show us what they’ve got, and if they are lucky, one of the judges will take the performer onto his or her team to 1: win the competition and 2: represent the judge who also wins the competition. Since we have a 2 party system (Democrats and Republicans) with Independents sort of making an unorganized third-party bid without any specific platform, or agenda, or political apparatus to help them out, we basically have only 2 judges.
In America, any natural born citizen (which does not include Cruz under any definition but that is a separate article) over the age of 35 can run for President. They don’t have to choose a party, they can choose to run as an Independent, but, the Independent Party has no convention, no structure, no money, no ability to run against the two big parties. Bernie has been an Independent all of his life, has run as an Independent, and he prides himself on being the ‘longest serving Independent Senator in the US.”. We know for a fact that someone from outside the established parties can win the Presidency because Lincoln ran as the first Republican and won, so it can be done, but in the modern pundit era, it is unlikely that Lincoln would win today.
In a talent show, each judge decides which talent they believe they can shape and teach to be a better performer, represent the judge, and win the competition in the end. Just like in a talent audition show, no one gets to decide which performer the judge will choose. It is not up to a vote by the audience. The Republican field of candidates is a perfect example of how anyone can audition for a spot, even those who are not ready for the big stage.
So it is with the Primary Season at the beginning. The party (Democrat or Republican), not the people (the audience), get to vote for the representative OF THEIR PARTY to run for an elected office. This occurs in all elected offices, not just the presidency. Anyone can apply, fill out the paperwork and audition to the party and the audience to show their talent and show why they are the best candidate 1) to win the prize of being elected at the end of election season and 2) represent the Party who also wins the prize.
Once all the applications are in, and the candidates are all counted up, we begin the debates. In a talent show, this would be the knock out rounds where the competitors go head to head and the judges chooses one performer in each round to go forward in the competition…still no audience participation. In Primary Season, the “debates” go on, the candidates go head to head and the audience begins to pick favorite contenders, but they don’t get to vote yet. The Republican field started with 19 candidates. One by one, they fell off the stage or they got moved to the “kid’s table” where fewer and fewer candidates were on the stage. The Democrats have lost 3 contestants and the Republicans are down to 7 contenders at last count.
In the talent shows, each judge gets “steals” or “saves” to grab an eliminated player onto their team to represent that judge’s team and that the judge believes can win the competition. No audience voting by the people yet. These “Steals and “Saves” in the talent show are the equivalent of “Super Delegates”. They are the hedged bets of each Party to keep good talent they think might win the competition in the end and represent the Party. Super delegates are those delegates reserved BY THE PARTY so that the person representing THEM is the best choice for the PARTY, according to the Party. Republicans use the dreaded "brokered convention" to accomplish the same thing.
The Democratic Party has the absolute right to decide, and set the rules for deciding, which individual will represent THEM in the “Election Season” and it is a long, arduous, involved process in which all candidates are vetted and tested before being chosen. Hillary has been the party's presumptive candidate for 2 years now, so it is no surprise that the party is reserving delegates to see how the primary voting process works out. The exact same process resulted in Obama getting the nomination last time despite Hillary having Super Delegates reserved for her in 2008, because that is how it played out.
Back to the talent show allegory: Once the knock out rounds are done, and the performers perform each week and the public gets to vote on their performance to keep their favorites but the judges still have a say in who stays and who goes. This is where the candidates are able to debate and get their message out, and we start the official “Contest Season” with Caucasus and Primaries held in each state… some early, some late. Now the People get to vote on their favorites, but the Party still has a say in who stays and who goes. Ergo….Super Delegates. These delegates are not always promised to a particular candidate, as in the case of 2 New Hampshire super delegates, but their job is to serve the PARTY. Remember, the candidates are not running for President yet, they are running for the Democratic or Republican Nomination as the Party’s representative to run for President. That’s it. The ACTUAL Nominee will be chosen in August at the Conventions. Democrats will name their candidate in August and the Republicans will name their Nominee a week later. Then we begin the “Election Season” and that will bring a whole new set of issues which will probably be blown out of proportion. Don’t even get me started on “Electors for President and Vice President” because the punditry will go bonkers on that subject.
Bottom Line: Bernie CHOSE to run in the Democratic primaries rather than running as an Independent or choosing to run as a Republican, which he was free to do. Bernie chose THIS process and the rules of running in the Democratic party's primary were clear before he chose it. These are the rules, he agreed to them. This is how the selection for the PARTY REPRESENTATIVE is chosen and has been the system for many, many, years. No dirty tricks here, no shady deals, no rigging. Bernie knew this going in so people should not be complaining about HIS choice to work with this set of rules if he wants to be chosen as the Democratic Party representative.
The prize for getting the Party’s Nomination? The money, the endorsements, the ground game, the advertisement budget, the Party’s “get out the vote” machines, organization, volunteers and lots of support because THE PARTY wants to win just as much as the Nominee wants to win.
Don’t forget, whoever loses the nomination can still run as an independent, Bernie can probably still get in as a Republican because he is in reality, an Independent. Both can even be a write-in candidate without a party affiliation. But that is “Election Season” and we are not there yet.
There have been 2 state votes out of 55 (including territories) so far so NO ONE has any definitive standing for either party’s Nomination. Super Tuesday is usually when the top finalists are sort of decided but Obama and Clinton fought it out for months in 2008 before Clinton conceded. And she did so with grace. And she went on to become one of Obama’s most important allies, confidantes, and advisors.
Incidentally, this whole controversy was stirred up by the media punditry because there is nothing else for them to do unless they create dust storms of nonsense they can throw at an uninformed populace. Bernie supporters need to stop feeding at the dust storm windmill and let the man run his campaign. He is doing a great job without adding all this false negativity and claiming he is a victim. I don't want a victim as President. I want a man or woman with a message, a goal, a vision, a plan and hope for the future. It does not serve Democrats to start devolving into "poor Bernie" or"bad Hillary" and "evil Debbie Wasserman Shultz". Talk about issues, ideas, goals, and Progressive values and leave the negativity to the Republicans to feed their base.
*No talent show has endorsed the comparisons used in this article and no particular talent show is referred to other than in general terms to help readers understand the basic premise. Any similarity to a particular talent show is not intentional or meant to promote or disparage any show.