With today’s decision by the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, Barack Obama came one step closer to becoming the next President of The United States. I watched the events unfold throughout the entire day – for some strange reason I was riveted by the Rules & Bylaws committee meeting and couldn’t stop watching it – even during various pandering sessions by supporters of both candidates.
In the end, I think the committee came to the only reasonable conclusion that was left to them: split the votes and allow Florida and Michigan to send their delegates to the convention. Anything else would have hurt the party in November, and we all know they couldn’t allow that. If one takes an unbiased look at the entire process the committee probably should have never punished the two states so severely in the first place, as it appears that the stipulated punishment for such a violation as was committed was to reduce the offending states delegate counts by half. In order to set an example however, the committee decided to take a hard line which they have now reversed in an effort to build up the party for the national elections. In some ways the decisions made today could be seen as an acknowledgment that their previous judgments were too harsh. Republicans will no doubt call it “more Democratic flip-flopping”. I’d rather support a party who isn’t afraid to re-evaluate a decision, than one who never admits they were wrong.
Oh, and Harold Ickes is evil.