Blaglash.com

Two questions:

What happened to “neither candidate will be able to win the amount of delegates needed to claim  nomination”?

and

Why was the media telling us that if it wasn’t true?

Yesterday, the AP reported that Obama secured the nomination.  Obama’s Twitter account had a countdown all day to the delegates he needed- at one point I saw the number 30.5 and I shook my head.  Of the two last primaries yesterday, Clinton and Obama split them; Obama winning Montana and Clinton winning South Dakota.  I was surprised she won South Dakota- I guess I just couldnt picture it because of how close Obama was winning the nomination. 

But Clinton has not yet conceded, not yet made any decisions.  Why not?  The Huffington Post’s page is the most dramatic thing I’ve ever seen, Politico sent me that e-mail, and Obama’s got all the delegates he needs.  Does that not a nominee make? 

This isn’t what we were expecting.  A cut and dry simple “I won the magic number of delegates and so I win the nomination”.  The papers did not tell us this would happen.  They’ve been peddling stories of riots at the DNC, Democratic party de-unification and virtual bitchfights betwixt party leaders.  We’ve had calls for Hillary to quit; even villification of the Senator and Former First Lady based on the premise of a shaky and unclear nomination and her role in tearing the democratic party apart: effectively diminishing her credibilty to voters.  How can you vote for someone while the papers claim her very candidacy is damaging to the country? 

While everyone was busy looking up the definition of “superdelegate” in their kids’ U.S. Government textbook and fighting about whether a black man or a woman deserves the presidency more, Obama quietly and effectively won enough delegates to claim the nomination, after everyone was all “neither one can win enough delegates to claim the nomination.  The newspapers and pundits effectively drove the discussion and thus the outcome of the race. 

In effect, Obama’s ability to seem above the fray won him the nod.  Hillary was busy defending herself, saying she had the right to run, that no one could force her out etc. and Obama just smiled, and said “she’s right”.  In defense, the Clinton campaign was forced off-track and off message.  Clinton didn’t get to talk about her plans because she had to talk about feminism.  Clinton had to contend with the racist comments of her staff and its effect on the Black vote.  Clinton didn’t seem like a winner because she had to explain that she wasn’t a loser.