Obama Delegate Reversal Shows He's A People-Powered Candidate

[AtomicKitten]

Obama Delegate Reversal Shows He’s a People-Powered Candidate
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Obama_Delegate_Reversal_Shows_He_s_a_People_Powered_Candidate_5559.html
by Paul Hogarth‚ Apr. 11‚ 2008



Barack Obama proved last night that he can be held accountable. On April 9th, the Obama campaign had angered his California supporters by removing 950 people from the upcoming delegate caucuses on Sunday. With a record number of Democratic activists running for delegate this year and with the delegate count at the National Convention actually making a difference, this move was condemned as blatantly undemocratic. Campaigns can legally remove such candidates for no reason, and the Hillary Clinton camp also removed about 50 names from their list of delegate candidates. The scale that Obama did it, however, was unprecedented – and threatened the notion that he is a people-powered candidate. But after overwhelming pressure from the grassroots that such a move was unacceptable, the Obama camp reversed course yesterday – instructing the California Democratic Party to allow anyone who filed to be an Obama delegate to run. By doing so, he effectively said: “this is your campaign, not mine.”

* snip *

With the nomination battle as tight as it is, and with Hillary Clinton saying she will go after pledged Obama delegates to win the nomination, the Obama camp had very good reason to be paranoid. They wanted to be sure that the Obama caucuses didn’t elect a closet Clinton supporter, or else it could overturn the outcome.

*** In a few cases – like at least one woman in San Francisco – the Obama campaign removed people who were secretly supporting Clinton. ***

* snip *

People were left scratching their heads yesterday wondering why some were removed and others not. A few even cited conspiracy – a candidate from Los Angeles who’s active in the anti-war movement suggested the Obama campaign removed people who were too controversial, but a closer scrutiny of who was kept and who got booted didn’t support that theory. The state Democratic Party couldn’t answer any questions – they said they were simply delivering the bad news, and referred people to the campaigns.

* snip *

But this is where grassroots Obama supporters learned that, by complaining loudly when you’re upset at your candidate, you can hold him accountable. Angry activists flooded the campaign with phone calls. Bloggers kicked the operation into high gear to demand that the Obama supporters – not the campaign – pick the delegates.

* snip *

What the Obama campaign effectively said was: “we trust you, because this is your campaign.” ... It’s called democracy – and in a democracy, everyone can get a shot to win ... For months, Obama has urged his supporters to take ownership of the campaign. He has said we will never get major change in this country without a people-powered movement.”

* snip *

*** Incredibly, the San Francisco woman who filed to be an Obama delegate – despite being a Clinton supporter – was also reinstated with the scores of legitimate Obama supporters. Was that a risky move? Of course, but the Obama campaign decided that they trust their supporters enough to weed people like that out themselves. Not allowing everyone a chance to participate would have tainted the process and disempowered people. ***

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd! “this is your campaign, not mine.” When have we EVER heard that?

:toast:

[AtomicKitten]

4. hey

:toast:

[cali]

5. well, in all honesty, howard dean said much the same thing.

but this is great!

[NYCGirl]

2. And we're going to see a lot more of this soon...

K&R

[Zachstar]

3. I hope this goes well.

This is their chance to shine!