Latin Americans wonder if U.S. Hispanics and

'superdelgates' will stand in Obama's way …

El Universal, Venezuela

The Ironies of Superdelegates

and Obama's Hispanic Hurdle

"Breaking the gender barrier would be impressive, but overcoming the barrier of race would be much more so. Curiously the biggest obstacle to overcoming the taboo that closes off the White House to non-Whites comes from Hispanics."

By Alfredo Toro Hardy

Translated By Barbara Howe

February 14, 2008

Venezuela - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish)

Like a bulldog and despite having no chance of winning, Mike Huckabee refuses to withdraw from the Republican contest. That obliges John McCain to devote time and energy to prevailing over him instead of concentrating on reorganizing the party to confront the Democrats. Moreover, the face-off with Huckabee implies a confrontation with the Christian right and the more conservative elements of the party. 

Meanwhile, this difficult effort to differentiate himself from Huckabee threatens to distance McCain from this high-powered faction of the Republican Party, which has so many financial and media resources to draw upon and such a capacity to mobilize voters. 

This is a component of the party that McCain has never liked, but without their participation it will be difficult for him to win in November. It seems inevitable that this will lead McCain to forge an agreement between Huckabee and those factions that back him, perhaps offering him the Vice Presidential ticket. In that case, McCain will alienate many of the independent and centrist voters that that support him, and which he needs to prevail over the Democrats. McCain finds himself caught between the conflicting demands of winning the support of the Christian right and of centrists.

The Democrats, however, are breaking the mould and making history. By some unknown method, a woman and a Black man, representatives of the country's so-called minorities, are competing to run for the nation's highest office. Breaking the gender barrier would be impressive, but overcoming the barrier of race would be much more so.

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Curiously, the biggest obstacle to overcoming the taboo that closes off the White House to non-Whites comes from Hispanics. The Hispanic community, which has always played a decisive role in opening the racial floodgates, is now being transformed into the last containment wall to the arrival of a Black man to the U.S. Presidency. The traditional antagonism between Blacks and Latinos, who are competing for similar place on the U.S. social pyramid, is now the biggest obstacle to Obama in his primary race against lily-white Hillary.  

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Democrats pride themselves on having established a system for electing candidates that is far more democratic than the Republicans have. Indeed, the latter resort to a system of "winner take all." In other words, the old pattern whereby any candidate who wins a state by one vote, takes all the delegates allocated to that state. The Democrats, however, have chosen a proportional system to ensure that every vote counts. But along with the proportional method, Democrats have something called "superdelegates" - 800 party notables that act as delegates simply because they are notable.

Everything therefore seems to indicate that in a race as competitive as this, those superdelegates will be called on to choose between Clinton and Obama. In other words, a party that boasts that it's more open will in essence be confirmed as a party of oligarchy.

Altohar@hotmail.com

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US February 26, 1:00am]