There have been a few super-duper delegates so far. Will more of them announce themselves and when they do, will they totally change the primary race?
What makes a person a super-duper delegate? Simple. A super-duper delegate's vote is worth two votes.
This is not a category the DNC has created.
It's a category that is awkward, that can and will cause discomfort and epithets.
But it is very likely that this mutated form of superdelegate will probably begin to become more common in the coming days.
One might speculate that they will come out "for the sake of the party," but I think they'll do it because timing is everything.
As Obama takes the reins, running the Democratic Party, as its presidential nominee, Clinton backers will inevitably lose power and fall in status.
Some of the superdelegates backing Clinton, seeing the writing on the wall, will jump ship and move to Obama. Already, some superdelegates have become super-duper delegates, taking the leap, virtually giving two advantage points to Obama -- Joe Andrew, former DNC chair, rep. John Lewis, of Atlanta, and Nancy Larson, a Minnesota DNC member.
Becoming a super-duper delegate will not be easy. The Clintons-- Hillary, Bill, Chelsea, have made sure of that. The Clinton supporters who leave the fold have been coddled and regularly attended to. But the floodgates have been opened. Sure, there are a lot of superdelegates waiting in the wings for the last primary vote to be cast June.
But there will be some superdelegates who metamorphose into super duper delegates because they have had enough of the Clinton strategists' scorched earth tactics. There will be some who do the switch because they believe it will position them better politically in the new DNC Obama firmament's hierarchy.
There will be some super-duper delegates who declare for Obama because they think the time has come to end the internecine conflict in the Democratic Party -- or at least that's what they'll say.
One thing that is very, VERY unlikely, that we have not seen at all, will be superdelegates going in the opposite direction, becoming super -- duper delegates for Hillary.
Today, Hillary holds a 14 superdelegate lead. My guess is in the coming days, Obama will overtake Hillary. He'll do it with the help of superdelegates who finally declare, but also, with the help of the super-duper delegates. Each announcement by a super-duper delegate will be a body slam to the Clinton campaign, but also a source of gathering momentum for the Democratic presidential nominee.
It may just turn out that the superdelegates who waited actually lost their opportunity to make the big splash, to maximize the influence of their decision. If just eight or ten superdelegates make the leap, Obama will take away the lead from the last significant numeric bastion Hillary held.
At some point, the Democratic party will have to come together.
If 25 or 50 of Hillary's supporters take the super-duper leap, it will send the message Obama has been waiting for. If the superdupers declare their switch this week, the rest of the primaries could become an exercise in futility for Hillary.
Perhaps the Clintons will see it as betrayal. But there will be many in the Democratic Party who will see the switching as the facing of the inevitable sooner rather than later. This is one way that superdelegates can start the healing within the Democratic Party. That will enable Obama and all the Democratic surrogates to start targeting John McCain and the GOP's policies, instead of Rev. Wright, the word 'bitter' and the phrase "more proud" vs. "proud."
I believe that the superdelegates who become super-duper delegates will be the smart ones, the courageous ones. They'll catch a little flack, but at this point, they'll be acting as leaders, making the decision that many superdelegates who have not yet declared yet cannot make -- because their state hasn't voted yet, because of their leadership positions, like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Jimmy Carter (though he's telegraphed his preference) and a number of the Presidential primary candidates.
This race is over. The super-duper delegates now have the power to end it in the most painless, least acrimonious way possible. Knowing when to cut bait, when to accept defeat, when to change direction -- that is the characteristic of a strong leader. The super-duper delegates will be exercising that leadership. That's the way the should be characterized. Even Judas invoking James Carville has inhaled enough coffee aroma at this point to know that calling names, at this point, is pointless and counterproductive.
Bring on the super-duper delegates. Their time has arrived.
Crossposted from OpEdNEws.com