Organizing for America | Red Hog Diary: Clinton Backers Warn Pelosi On Super Delegate Rift

Clinton Backers Warn Pelosi On Super Delegate Rift

By Christopher Wilcox - Mar 26th, 2008 at 11:12 pm EDT

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If you are looking for something to differentiate Obama and Clinton, other than his prolific gift for oration and her prolific gift for hyperbole you need look no further than who is supporting each candidate and how they are expressing that support. You all have heard about Obama’s million plus contributors, the tens of thousands of who show up for Obama rallies or the millions of new participants into the political process and how that contrasts with Hillary’s PAC and lobbyist funded campaign. You have heard how Obama’s received substantially more money than Hillary and how his contributions are coming from people of modest means in the form of $25 and $50 gifts. And we are all aware that Hillary’s campaign is concerned because her short list of wealthy contributors have maxed out on legal contributions and she even had to infuse $5 million of her own money into her campaign. But perhaps the nature of the motivation behind these two candidates’ contributors can best be summed up by a letter that Nancy Pelosi recently received from 20 of the most prominent insider party activists. Nancy Pelosi had recently stated that super delegates should support whoever emerges from the primaries with the most delegates. Such a statement shows an unflinching understanding of how Democracy is supposed to work but Clinton supporters will have none of that. "This is an untenable position that runs counter to the party's intent in establishing super delegates in 1984," the letter from the wealthy Clinton backers said. “Super delegates, like all delegates, have an obligation to make an informed, individual decision about whom to support and who would be the party's strongest nominee," said the letter signed by some of Clinton's biggest fund raisers. And there lies the rub. Super delegates by their nature in this particular contest wield an excessive amount of power to undermine the will of the electorate in this campaign. And the wealthy Clinton donors feel entitled to all of the power that their prominent status of super delegate appears to bestow. And then there are millions of us regular shmo’s out here who have been working hard to get out the vote, chipping in when we can and feeling like we really do have a voice this time around. We felt like we could make a difference and we were showing up in numbers like never before because we believed the America we love was within our grasp. So Nancy Pelosi if you never do another thing right in your life do not retract your statement. Do not bow to status quo of politics as usual and abandon those of us out here in the real world who want so desperately to believe that this is our country and this is our time. To be sure your stand with the people will take all of the courage and conviction that a position such of yours commands. Among the signees of the letter were prominent Democrats and Clinton supporters like Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television; Bernard Schwartz, former chairman of Loral Space and Communications; and venture capitalist Steven Rattner. In what qualifies as extortion by any definition the signees of the letter went on to remind Pelosi of their support for the party's House campaign committee and said "therefore" she should "reflect in your comments a more open view" about super delegates. I might remind Nancy that the support offered by those 20 millionaire insiders who will demand recompense for their loyalty would offer scant detriment to her future endeavors such as the wrath of millions of disenfranchised citizens who actually bring the votes to the ballot box.

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