Even though I’m an Obama supporter, it was a little disgusting to see the pledged delegate switch his vote. I understood his reasoning and it made much more sense after reading the WaPo article. But to say it makes me uneasy is putting it mildly.

No matter what happens when this is all over, we need to pressure the DNC to fix this. And to do it in a way that will make it equitable to those of us who support the party and it’s candidates year after year.

The idea of super-delegates came from a valid concern. It shows good foresight to put into place some system to be able to correct a mistake, but I think we can all agree that such a measure should only be taken due to some truly disastrous occurrence for the nominee. Something that would pretty much cause most supporters of the nominee to essentially agree to a switch.

But a far more justifiable system would be to have the nominee be selected based entirely on elected delegates. There is also no reason elected delegates should be able to switch their vote once selected by the voters, unless the candidate releases them. Then, at the convention, the party elite (”super-delegates”) can basically ratify the presumptive nominee. If something disastrous had occurred between the elections and the convention, they could vote “nay” and reject the candidate, essentially “disqualifying” him/her.

This system wouldn’t interfere with the possibility of a brokered convention either. If a candidate hasn’t reached the number of elected delegates necessary to secure the nomination, the other candidates and elected delegates can still work it out. The party elite only ratifies/rejects the ultimate nominee.

An added bonus here is that it would take a truly earth-shattering revelation/misbehavior by the presumptive nominee for the party elite to actively “reject” the choice of rank-and-file Democrats.

FFS, Jack, you could have kept your mouth shut until the convention. Now all the Clintonistas will seize on this as proof that pledged delegates don’t count.

I guess we can look forward to more election reform on the dem side next time around?

so ironic that clinton had a hand in creating superDs in the first place.

The voters are stealing the election!