The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Why the Superdelegates WILL Weigh In June 4th

    They've waited, watching Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama battle through the last remaining states. But I have a feeling they are not amused.

    The superdelegates understand that Clinton has fought a losing game for some time, that she has moved the goal posts repeatedly to reset the clock, that she has needlessly divided the party to the breaking point. Most of all, they understand that where she has won, she has won among those more susceptible to the implicit racism of her electability argument.

    That is why they will weigh in en masse on June 4th.

    In Kentucky, the 21 percent of voters who said race was a factor in their decision went for Clinton by 81-16 percent. A Chicago Tribune story this morning explained the situation in small Munfordville, Ky., this way:
    "Right now it's not that Hillary attracts the white vote," said Jack Bunnell, 79. "It's that Obama's black."

    It's a notion Clinton's campaign has been subtly pushing, claiming that only she can secure a Democratic vote in many large, predominantly white expanses of America — particularly in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, potential keys to the fall election.
    But it wasn't just race that led to Clinton's blowout win in Kentucky tonight. Of the 16 percent in exit polls who cited gender as an important consideration, 79 percent voted for Clinton. Education, income and city vs rural all played some role, as well, though to a smaller degree.

    Have I mentioned? the superdelegates are NOT amused. To explain more fully:

    They will not overturn the pledged delegates Superdelegates know that Clinton long ago lost the pledged delegates, and they will not dare to split blacks, the most loyal of any Democratic constituency, from the party base by overturning those pledged delegates.

    They watched Hillary slice and dice voters
    Clinton made a strategic decision to contest the nomination beyond any reasonable odds of winning. To keep the supers from weighing in early and ending it, she made a Hail Mary pass. She argued that those calling for her to quit were sexist, an argument that peeled off more women voters from Obama. She argued that she was more masculine and peeled off good ol' boys who were always concerned anyway by what a black guy with balls might do with their wives. The she appealed right out loud to "hard-working, white Americans" and, sure enough, won over more of the same.

    They watched her split the party

    While Hillary was slicing and dicing, something else was happening, too. Her supporters were becoming more and more polarized, threatening in ever greater numbers to thwart Obama in the general election.

    They would have stepped in by now, but...
    They couldn't stop her. If they had tried to intervene for Obama, the Clinton supporters would cry foul and defect for good, with no hope for party unity. And the perception, driven by Hillary, that superdelegates were interfering with the will of the people, would have pushed the protest vote for Hillary in the remaining primaries to catastrophically embarrassing margins for Obama in places just such as Kentucky.

    They. Are. Not. Amused.
    They will deliver the coup de grace with a terrible swift sword on June 4th. They are not about to let her circus continue. She has thrown kerosene into the big tent. They are not amused.