Pelosi: Superdelegates may do damageDamn Straight.
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it would be damaging to the Democratic party for its leaders to buck the will of national convention delegates picked in primaries and caucuses, a declaration that gives a boost to Sen. Barack Obama.
"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party," Pelosi said in an interview taped Friday for broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
The California Democrat did not mention either Obama or his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, by name. But her remarks seemed to suggest she was prepared to cast her ballot at the convention in favor of the candidate who emerges from the primary season with the most pledged delegates.
When it comes to party building, the Dems have everything in their favor. They have the "benefit," such as it is, of being in office opposite a dangerous, disastrous, and deeply unpopular president (which they've squandered, almost entirely, by capitulating to him at every turn). Their final two candidates have brought out supporters in droves, and Obama, in particular, has proven to be an exceptionally inspiring figure.
These are the just sort of things that energize and develop young voters, engaging them in the political process, often for the first time. In terms of identifying with a given party, this is, in no small way, a perfect storm of circumstances.
But then to have this group who is, quite literally, the future of your party, see the candidate chosen, not by their votes, but by those of a relative handful of Democratic elders and insiders?
Regardless of the fact that such a thing would be within the rules of the Dems' system, I don't believe you could come up with a more alienating, thoroughly disillusioning turn of events if you tried. If the superdelegates choose to play kingmaker in the face of the voters' preference, the Democratic party will deserve whatever it gets and more.
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