The Democratic nomination

We now have a nomination “fight” on our hands. Although it is hard to consider it a fight when one candidate is clearly going to lose and has no real chances of winning. (Unless something out of the ordinary occurs). Seating the delegations from Michigan and Florida has become the major issue of the democratic nomination. Not health care. Not the war in Iraq and not home foreclosures. The major issue is the apportionment of delegates.

We all remember that both states moved their primaries up against Democratic party rules and lost their delegates as a result. The Rules Committee decided yesterday to seat all of the Florida delegates but only give them half a vote. They also agreed to seat the Michigan delegates, which was a little more complicated because Clinton was the only person on the ballot in that state. She received more delegate votes from Michigan than Obama, but her campaign feels that this is a miscarriage of justice.

Hillary supporters claim that this is tantamount to what happened to Al Gore in 2000. Hello!! Are you kidding me? This is in no way like the 2000 election. First of all, people were not turned away at the polls. Voting machines were NOT tampered with. All the people that voted had their vote counted. The difference is that Michigan and Florida broke party rules. That is the reason their votes have come into question. NOT a national conspiracy by the Republican party. The rules were broken. Consequences follow when rules are broken. The only people who don’t seem to understand that are the Hillary Clinton supporters. What don’t they understand about rules and consequences?

It has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman and everything to do with Hillary Clinton and how she ran her campaign. Is it Obama’s fault that Clinton did not take him seriously? No. Is it Obama’s fault that Clinton ran a shoddy campaign? No. Is it Obama’s fault that Clinton’s fundraising was not up to par? No. Is it Obama’s fault that Bill Clinton cannot keep his mouth shut? No. Is it Obama’s fault that Michigan and Florida moved up their primaries? No!! The only person who should be blamed is Hillary Clinton and her campaign staff. Yet, the reason for her failure to all her supporters seems to be sexism.

I am in no way saying that sexism does not exist. Nor am I saying that it has not been a factor in this year’s nomination race. What I do know is that it is NOT the reason that Hillary Clinton is losing. None of the men or women that I know used gender as a reason for their vote. People who are not voting for Hillary aren’t voting for her because they don’t trust her. Bottom line. Not that they don’t trust A HER. People who aren’t voting for Obama are doing it because they don’t feel he has the experience. Not because he is black.

Seeing middle-aged white women stand outside the Rules Committee screaming sexism and cheating reminded me briefly of PETA activists. The type of people who are so “committed” to a cause or candidate that they have no grip on reality. They can’t see the forest from the trees. It scares me. It scares me because I can see the America that I’ve known rearing its ugly head. Entitlement.

It has been reported that Obama has lost his support among white women specifically since February. (When Clinton was supposed to have wrapped up the nomination) It scares me because I know if Hillary Clinton does not win that supporters of hers have said they will vote across party lines in November. They would rather vote for John McCain than Barack Obama. Why? They are essentially the same candidate except for the fact that one is a white woman and the other is a black man. What has Obama done differently since February? Has he made a comment? No. Has he proposed some policy that would be detrimental to women? No. Is it just the fact that he IS NOT a white woman? Possibly.

Why should Hillary give it up? Well, aside from the fact that it is virtually impossible for her to win the delegate count it is also tearing the Democratic party apart. It is highlighting the divisions within the party that are otherwise masked when the enemy is a Republican. When the enemy is a white man.

But this is Hillary and she will do whatever it takes to win. She has every right to fight it out until the end. I wonder though ….. maybe Father Michael Pfleger had it right when he says that Hilary felt entitled to the Presidency. Not because Obama is a Black man, but because 2008 was supposed to be HER year. No matter who she was running against.