And Speaking of Superdelegates

  • Share
  • Read Later

A fun and mildly poignant piece on the undecided superdelegates in Salon today, which makes it sound as though they aren’t politically calculating so much as politically terrified:

For superdelegates, most of whom are active politicians, to choose is to lose the support of either the Obamaniacs or the Hillary-ites in their state or district. “I don’t want to alienate anybody, period,” said the Democratic House member from the Southwest, whose district went for Obama but whose state opted for Clinton. The congressman, facing a competitive reelection race in November, explained, “I come from a district that is a Republican district. I’ve got to win independents. I need to win Republicans … I think it helps me, in my own district, not to say anything.” Even before the latest round of controversy over Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, this House member worried that if he endorsed for president, he would be blamed for something his candidate said or did.

Such squishiness in a superdelegate seems, to me, to add weight to the argument that there shouldn’t be such a thing.