Super Delegates: Members of Legion of Doom, Not Justice League
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
The nerdy reference in this post’s title exposes my childhood obsession with comic books as well as my current obsession with politics. The term “super delegate? is this year’s “swift-boating? and we will hear all about them in upcoming months. I am sure that the progenitors of the super delegate idea did not anticipate that these party members would have as much of a role as they will have this year.
There has been a lot made in recent days about the people who form the select class of super delegates. It is clear that governors, senators and representatives are members of this prestigious group. Former presidents, party leaders and high-level activists also get a hand in selecting the next candidate. There is also College Democrat chapter vice-presidents and private university students who became super delegates before they could vote.
If you are reading this blog, you probably saw the story about the 21-year old Marquette University student who has been getting pressure from Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Chelsea Clinton about supporting their candidates. Jason Rae became the youngest super delegate in the Democratic Party at the age of 17 which means his first presidential vote will come this year. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also highlights University of Wisconsin-Madison student Awais Khaleel who is a fellow super delegate.
I hope readers can track down some information on how to become a super delegate outside of holding public office. I tried my best for a few minutes to plug in search terms on Google but couldn’t get clear answers (except for the enlightening responses on Yahoo! Answers). People like Jason Rae and Awais Khaleel are burgeoning party leaders but they should not be super delegates. There are few occasions where I want to leave young voters out of a political process but the super delegate system seems to be a reward for public service rather than a reflection of demographic diversity in a state. If the Democratic Party wants to tear itself apart with this façade of democracy, they should leave the kids behind.
I think the whole super delegate idea is a throwback to an older style of politics. The original idea for Democratic super delegates goes back to 1968 and it was implemented following the 1980 election. The purpose of the super delegates was to create responsiveness by party leaders to the votes of people in their states. It seems that this system is out of whack since super delegates in Obama states are still supporting Clinton and vice versa. The Democratic Party needs to eliminate this process and create a national-state coordination of delegate distribution that assures that every delegate is pledged to a candidate based on votes instead of the whims of party leaders.
