The Party is Working

The rules compromise for Florida and Michigan has been struck, a best attempt at fairness for those who voted and those who did not because they thought their votes would not count.

It's all good for Barack "no drama" Obama:

Mr. Obama’s associates calculate he will need the votes of probably just 30 more superdelegates — elected Democrats and party leaders — to claim a majority of delegates after the last primary vote is counted, assuming expected outcomes in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana...

...As of Saturday, about 150 superdelegates remained officially uncommitted.

Strategy executed, with grace, as Obama reportedly had the committee votes to split the Michigan allocations 50/50 but chose to get a "supermajority" over 2/3 in a result that gave Hillary Clinton a more favorable outcome. Harold Ickes represented her, but committee member Donna Brazile had the clip of the day -- bringing the audience to its feet starting 2:50 in:



Now, just like in the brilliant HBO movie Recount that I watched last night, the Clinton campaign called for protesters to gather at the meeting, reminiscent of James Baker for Bush. In response, the Obama campaign told its supporters not to protest, which had the effect of isolating the Clinton protesters as wingnuts. Forsooth:



An "inadequate black male". Nice. Did you kiss your ex-husband with that mouth?

Look, I understand her gender and race aggravation, but she's a poster child for victimization and kind of a ghoulish figure with her death cry of "McCain will be the next President of the United States!" at a Democratic Party event.

Here's Matthew Yglesias on the choices facing vehemently anti-Obama Hillary protesters as we move to the General Election:

It seems to me that it's one thing if Clinton backers from upstate New York want to argue on behalf of Clinton backers from Florida and Michigan that delegates selected in those states' illicit primaries should be seated. But it's really a bit bizarre for Malzan to be acting as if someone is casting doubt on the validity of her vote. Nobody is dispute Clinton's right to her delegates from New York or California or any other state where the won a properly conducted primary.

Meanwhile, people who are seriously drawn to Hillary Clinton's plans on health care, climate change but also think they might vote for John McCain in the fall rather than the candidate with plans that are very similar to Clinton's are being a bit confused. People who are seriously drawn to Clinton on feminist grounds but are considering staying home in the fall so McCain can replace John Paul Stevens with another justice in the mold of Alito or Roberts really need to think harder.

Is there cause for hope? Hell, yes, per Patrick, a commenter at The Field:

...At the beginning of the day, all of the Hillary supporters sitting around Carthage, Keirsten and I were quite vocal and energetic. Even up to the time the committee returned from their “lunch”, they were still quite vehemently pro-Hillary.

However, as the hecklers and yellers in the room got more and more vitriolic, most of the Hillary supporters grew quiet and by the time we left, were having awesome conversations with Obama people about unity and moving forward.

I think the hecklers had alot to do with that - because in the end, the more reasonable among us don’t want to be associated with that kind of behavior. And I suspect that many people watching that behavior on C-span would have responded the same way. It was pretty interesting to see that transition from way pro-Hillary to accepting what they had seen the committee decide, spurred in part by the behavior among the worst of them.

Per the Chairman of the Democratic Party, words Hillary herself would be well-served to heed by the end of this upcoming week:

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, opened the meeting by urging party activists who filled the hotel ballroom to think beyond the immediate concerns of their chosen candidates and begin working for the benefit of the party in the general election.

“This is not about Barack Obama,” Mr. Dean said. “This is not about Hillary Clinton. This is about our country. This is about restoring America to its greatness, to restoring our moral authority and to healing America at home. That’s what this is about.”

Make no mistake about it. Order is being restored, a new order. Today the Democratic Party has moved to something that has been in the works since North Carolina and Indiana, and self-evident to all not wholly partisan to the Clinton campaign.

It has given over the reins from the Clintons, held these past sixteen years, to the the single successfully poised, strategic, and effective candidate: Barack Obama.

It's his Party now.

Climb aboard.