If you are a regular viewer of Meet The Press, you know very well as to which political militia Ed Rendell, Gov. of PA, and Bob Casey, Sen. of PA, respectively belong. As the Pennsylvania primary draws closer, these two surrogates are turning up the volume on their collective rhetoric. But really, today's conversation consisted of 'deja-views,' with Gov. Rendell insisting that Mrs. Clinton is the one who can win the 'big' states and should receive the nomination. This despite Sen. Casey's counter argument that Barack Obama is ahead by every measure. This particular point-counterpoint discussion seems to be at a stalemate, but it isn't really. Mrs. Clinton needed this race to be way over by now. As it has gone on, you see that she will say whatever is politically expedient to capture the nomination, specifically referring to Michigan and Florida. These two states are one black eye on the Democrats. Now, Mrs. Clinton is claiming that she won these states and that they should count, despite the fact that she signed a pledge not to campaign. And on and on and on goes this broken merry-go-round. The argument this column finds most ridiculous is that there can not be a do-over in Michigan or Florida because the cost is upward to $15 million. We refuse to believe that in a time where we are all witnessing the first billion dollar campaign that the Democratic party can not come up with this money. The answer is that it is not politically advantageous for the insider candidate.
The insider candidate relies most heavily on the superdelegates. Superdelegates is just a euphemism for Democratic Party insiders - an electoral college within the party if you will. Extending this analogy for a moment, the electoral college was set up because the decision-making of the public could not be trusted. Is that the case today? No, because there are some people who trust in the public, but do superdelegates subvert the public's wishes? That's what they're there for. This column always finds it amusing that when a political wrinkle presents itself, the public always learns anew of a process or designation. Never before in this writer's politically cognizant years have I had to consider or even know about a superdelegate. But now, I have to consider whether or not they will put the public's interest first ahead of their respective political futures and that they could override the wishes of the people. Senator Casey believes that the superdelegates will fall in line with the public and we hope, for the sake of democracy, that this isn't just naivete.
And that Gov. Rendell is constantly making statements about how the superdelegates could decide this contest at the convention is the wishful self-fulfillment of a prophecy. Which brings up another point of political fear - when you hear a politician repeat the same thing over and over again, it can only mean that it will happen. George W. Bush and the Iraq War/Occupation? Case at rest.
Another reason why Mrs. Clinton needed this race to be over with some time ago, by the way, is that the voters will start to have a better understanding of the individuals working on her behalf such as Mark Penn who is a Clinton aide but also works for a private firm who has dealings with the Government of Columbia. When he was in country, was he representing Mrs. Clinton or the firm he works for? This was Mrs. Clinton's point of controversy for the hour.
As for Mr. Obama's corresponding point for the hour? That his 'young daughter wouldn't be punished with a baby.' How easy was that to take out of context? Never mind that he was talking about the need for more comprehensive sex education in this country beyond simply teaching abstinence or the fact the one in four teenage girls have an STD. Such trivial concerns do not factor in the minds of pundits - where's the fun it that? Ahh... politics.
And speaking of things that people say that we don't like to hear, (Or should we really say that we DO like to hear them so that we can criticize what's said) Tom Brokaw, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, and Ambassador Andrew Young were on today's program to discuss the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King on the 40th anniversary of his assassination. When we remember, we revere. We revere the individual who speaks on behalf of those who can not, who speaks critically to power, who dares to tell the truth - the truth, for example, that the plight of single mothers (white and black) in America is a profound economic tradegy. But these great individuals in the present aren't revered, they are subverted against, marginalized, slandered, and slain. Jesus, as we know, was such an individual. Now, we are not comparing Dr. King to Jesus, but they were both prophets. They both spoke to power, both champions of the oppressed. Dr. King, in his harshest words toward America or the American Government specifically, never subverted the Constitution, he counted on its words.
Does Senator Obama exercise the same stout of heart? In moments, yes, but with any politician - black, white, man, women - if you get too populace in your message, and in today's realm that is speaking out against corporate distribution of wealth, the establishment will bury you - mostly figurative today but sometimes literally. Barack Obama has spoken frankly to American voters. American individuals wouldn't want it any other way, even if he/she doesn't like what he hears. For individuals, it is a time for thought and discussion, for the media it is a time to pounce.
On this anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, we should reflect on words we need to hear, not just the ones that ring pleasantly, that's what really unites us.
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