Video: Bill Clinton Says Democratic Primary System Not Fair
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Billary, Democrats, Hillary, Republicans, VideoIsn’t this the same guy who accused Obama of whining last week?
Now, for whatever reason, the audio cut out on this video about halfway through me watching it, so in case the same happens for you, here’s what he said:
“If we were under the Republican system, which is more like the Electoral College, she’d have a 300-delegate lead here,” he said. “I mean, Senator McCain is already the nominee because they chose a system to produce that result, and we don’t have a nominee here, because the Democrats chose a system that prevents that result.”The former president was responding to increasing concerns among Democrats that a prolonged Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama race improves Arizona Sen. John McCain’s chances.
“Disenfranchisement is not a good strategy for Democrats,” Clinton said. “We do a better job when people are in power. So I just don’t agree with that.”
Okay, sure. As if you’d be saying the same thing if she were winning.
What’s even worse about this is how it delegitimizes Obama’s win if he becomes the nominee, and I’ve personally never heard any other candidate make this case. Everybody knows what the rules are before they get into this fight. It’s understood that all states allocate proportionally in some manner, and have done so since the 70s.
Moving on…
This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Billary, Democrats, Hillary, Republicans, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I’ll agree that this isn’t a question of “fairness”, but Clinton does have a point that the way the Democratic primary is set up will influence the eventual outcome. He’s also right that a system that more closely resembled the Electoral College would have Clinton in a commanding lead.
And when you are in a situation where Denver might roll around without either candidate having enough votes for a first ballot nomination, I’m not sure what arguments count as “delegitimizing” as once you have a SECOND ballot at a convention the popular vote counts for exactly nothing.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Rich Horton hypothesizes that “a system that more closely resembled the Electoral College would have Clinton in a commanding lead.”
I prefer to think instead that in such a hypothetical situation Obama could still have worked within different rules to still be in the lead.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:55 am
[...] Bill Clinton Says the Primary System Isn’t Fair (Donklephant) [...]
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
I prefer to think instead that in such a hypothetical situation Obama could still have worked within different rules to still be in the lead.
So Obama wasn’t trying to win New York, Texas and California?
Heh.