My longtime friend Marie Lederer retired from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives at the end of November, 2006. She was a tireless worker who well understood the relationship between effort and achievement. "We don't have magic wands," she would often say when faced with impossible demands.
But suppose Howard Dean gave every superdelegate a magic wand, a cape, and a mask, instantly transforming them into superheroes worthy of the comic strips of my youth. It would be great to see Al Gore using his magic wand to end global warming, Ted Kennedy using his to raise the minimum wage to $9.50, Nancy Pelosi using hers to end Senate filibusters of House-passed legislation, John Conyers using his to protect civil liberties tramped on in the Bush Administration, etc.
It would be great to see so many great achievements from super delegates with magic wands that Rahm Emmanuel would be talking about a "435 District strategy" and the Republican National Committee would announce it was targeting Utah. "We can't let the Republican Party be shut out of the House of Representatives in 2008," an imaginary Republican spokesperson would say. "We have to win somewhere."
It would also be great to here an updated version of the television/movie lines of my childhood, "Look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a superdelegate."
But then, bringing us back to earth, comes the alternative fantasy of the completely powerless superdelegate. Cartoonist Chris Britt of the Springfield Illinois State Journal Register has a cartoon, reprinted in today's Harrisburg Patriot, of a man hiding under his bad, talking to a child. A woman calls out to him "You're a superdelegate. You can't hide from them forever."
The truth about the Superdelegates, of course, is that they have no magic wands, no superpowers. High up in the Democratic hierarchy as a result of party or governmental positions, they have responsibilities to those below them as well as to those above them. They can and have been moved by concerned citizens and friends.
So those who care about how Superdelegates vote at the Democratic National Convention should feel to let them know by phone, email, letters, luncheon invitations, etc. The more personal the contact, the greater the impact.
Former Philadelphia City Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell was a Superdelegate leaning to Hillary Clinton when she got a call from Michelle Obama that turned her life around. Now there are few more passionate Obama backers among superdelegates anywhere in the country than Carol Ann Campbell.
As long as the race for President is close, Superdelegates and everyone else in the political process can be pressured from the top. Pressure from the grassroots--being organized in many different ways across the country--can have, has had, and will continue to have an even greater effect.
No one seriously believes Superdelegates are Superheroes. Nor should they be seen as Super Villains. Some are really great people. What we need to do is to use all legitimate means available--votes by the public, personal persuasive powers, and the power of organized efforts--to make it clear to each and every superdelegate that people care about how they use their vote, and that each vote counts should be a vote responsible to public opinion and the long range interest of the Democratic Party in being a credible representative of the public.
The creation of Superdelegates was an accomodation to the interests of both Democratic Party and governmental officials in being able to serve as delegates without getting enmeshed in political maneuvering placing them at odds with many of their supporters. It also helped set up a direct link between Congressional delegations and Democratic National Committee members and the occupants of the White House in Democratic administrations.
These are not purposes without value. But the greatest value is that the nominating process represent the will of the people. As a college student in 1969, I testified before the McGovern Commission urging that all states be required to have pledged delegates. I was one of many to do that, and the mandate for pledged delegates has been part of Democratic Party rules since the 1972 primaries and caucuses.
It would be only a short step to require that all delegates must be pledged delegates. Hopefully, enough Superdelegates will be of the Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Charles Rangel mindset, and realize that they have a representative role which they must fulfill, so that the Democratic National Convention can concentrate on beating John McCain and not the inside baseball of Superdelegates.