The Politics of ... POLITICS?!?

The poltics of politics.  There's a title for you!  This post is going to cover a few things that have been rolling around in my head, so please bear with me.

If you remember back in January, Michigan and Florida held their primaries too early, at least according to the DNC.  As a result, their delegates wouldn't be seated and wouldn't be counted.  BHO and HRC both agreed to that, at the time.  Those were the DNC rules.  If you break the rules, which those states did by holding their primaries too early, those were the consequences.

I happen to follow the rules, even those I don't agree with.  Why?  Because this is a society of laws and because there have to be laws in order to prevent anarchy.  The RNC and DNC have their respective rules about what the candidates can and cannot do.  Break the rules, and face the consequences.

But HRC is saying that she's entitled to those delegates, and that the voters will be disenfranchised.  That might be true in that BHO would also be entitled to the delegates he might have gotten.  That's not the point, however.  The point is that they broke the rules.  And if you're going to apply rules to me ... those same rules must also apply to you.

I read somewhere that the DNC was having a problem with this, because if they DID seat the delegates, that would send the wrong message.  The message it would send is (to paraphrase) "It doesn't matter what the rules say, because if you break them we're not going to punish you." 

And now, this compromise.  I'm sorry, but while I think they tried to do their best (seat all the delegates but give them each HALF a vote) this is going to cause a bigger problem in the future.  Other states will, I believe, look at this compromise as "They broke the rules and got a slap on the wrist.  I wonder what we can get away with?  Heck with it.  Push the button Frank.  Let's see what happens."

The meeting where they announced the compromise was, according to what I've been reading, little short of a fiasco.  People were shouting back and forth at each other to "shut up," and "count all the votes!"  This is not going to help unite the Democratic party.  And for one of the committee members, Alice Huffman to say "We will leave here more united than we came," is denial of the worst kind. 

Another shout heard was "We justblew the election!"  She might be right.  They might have just fractured their party beyond the ability to heal it before the election. 

Another thing I need to cover is HRC's sense of entitlement.  She does feel she's entitled to those delegates.  As I already wrote, BHO may also feel a sense of entitlement about the delegates he would have gotten.

But something else is that, in my opinion, HRC also feels a sense of entitlement about being the next president.  Bear with me on this one.

We're all aware by now of the racially charged, inflammatory speaches of Reverends Wright and Pfleger.  Dr. Pfleger said "I really believe that she just always thought 'This is mine.  I'm Bill's wife, I'm white, and this is mine.' "  He actually has a partial point.  If you can see past the race-baiting remark, he did address her alleged sense of entitlement.  Yes, she is Bill's "long-suffering" wife.  And yes, the Clintons are heavy-weights (were at least) in the Democratic Party.  And she MIGHT have felt that "I deserve this.  I'm entitled to it.  This is mine."  It certainly seemed that way when the campaign began, right?  It really did seem that at the beginning, all she had to do was step up to the plate and claim it.

I need to point something else out.  I would have no problem with a woman being president.  Unfortunately, Dr. Rice isn't running.  I would have no problem with an African-American male being the next president.  Unfortunately, General Powell isn't running, either. 

But now both candidates have pulled out the race and gender card, and that's sad.  This was supposed to be a campaign about change. 

From where I sit, it's politics as usual. 

So much for change.  So much for hope.