Obama's Plot to Remove His Name from Michigan Ballot
by Universal, Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 08:35:12 AM EST
Last night, after being challenged by another MyDD poster to provide evidence for my assertion that Obama removed his name from the Michigan ballot because he felt he could not compete against Clinton there, I came upon the following column over at Talk Left:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/1/25/ 183713/960
Now, the Talk Left piece uses sourcing from the Iowa Independent, a collection of journalists and bloggers. The story seems legitimate, as far as I can tell. Here is the original piece:
Ok, let's look at an excerpt from the Talk Left piece:
What TPM does not realize is that the removal (of Barack's name from the Michigan ballot) was an attempted power play by Obama because he knew he could not run well in Michigan and thought that the pressure of Iowa (protect the whole first thing) would allow him to shut down the possibility of a Michigan beauty contest being deemed meaningful. And indeed Obama's hardball ploy worked. Michigan was not covered.
What does this mean, and why is this important?
1. There was NO impetus from the DNC for Obama to remove his name, and he seems to be the mastermind behind the idea (which Edwards and Richardson agreed to later). In other words, it is HIS fault that his name was not on the ballot, and that voters could not vote for him. The gamble was all his, and it appears to have been made ONLY because Obama knew he would lose the state to HRC. In other words, Obama WANTED the situation we find ourselves in today because then he could claim, hypocritically, "I wasn't on the ballot."
2. This is critical because Obama WILLINGLY disenfranchised the voters of Michigan by not allowing them to cast a ballot specifically for him. This was a charade, and a cynical one at that.
The bottom line is this: Obama deserves, and will get no, sympathy for what happened in Michigan. No candidate campaigned there (although Obama's supporters in Michigan made a strong pitch to vote for 'Uncommitted' to try to hurt Clinton), and the playing field was level, as it was in Florida (well, at least until Barack ran his TV ad, anyways).
Obama, it seems, made the conscious and calculated decision to not give Michigan voters the choice to vote for him. What happens to him when the Michigan delegates are seated -- and it is beginning to look more and more likely that they will be seated -- is HIS OWN FAULT; he created this mess, and tried to get cute with the ballot games. Now, he looks to suffer the consequences of his hubris.
To that I can only say: You earned this, Barack, by trying to punk the Michigan voter. Enjoy.
-----------------------
One final note: Don't let ANYONE try to tell you that Michigan was at fault for what happened to it's delegates. It is not. Michigan, although not happy with the setup, was prepared to keep its original primary date UNTIL NEW HAMPSHIRE SWITCHED THEIRS, in violation of an agreement between the states and the DNC. And the DNC, erroneously and against its own rules, chose only to punish Michigan and not New Hampshire. There is more to the story, but this is the basic upshot. So when someone falsely says that Michigan caused its own problems, you tell them that is flat-out untrue.
For more information on what I'm talking about on this point, please see this article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con
tent/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801511_
pf.html
----------------------------
The bottom line of all of this information is this:
Barack played a foolish game in Michigan, and now the chickens are coming home to roost. In a deliberate plot to hurt HRC, he took his name off of the Michigan ballot. Michigan had been capriciously penalized by the DNC, unlike New Hampshire which was the state which first broke the rule/agreement which forced Michigan's hand.
The delegates deserve to be, and I believe will be, seated. The DNC faces both charges of selective enforcement of its rules as well as disaster in November if they do not do this. The same goes for Florida.
However, Barack has NO -- I repeat, ZERO -- case for what happened to him in Michigan. HE CAUSED IT, and he did it as a ploy to try to hurt Clinton. He gambled, he lost, and he is going to pay the price which he deserves to pay.
Don't let anyone tell you differently. This is what happened and what is likely to happen. Check the links, and see for yourself.
Tags: 2008 elections, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Michigan, Michigan primary, Primaries (all tags)
-----------
myDD - skin
-----------
21 Comments