Buggin' Out Over the 'Inadequate Black Male.'

To be fair, every Clinton supporter isn’t getting their Ferraro on right now. But this is the narrative that seems to have become the dominant one among Hillary Clinton supporters in the blogosphere: that she is being denied the nomination by elites in the Democratic party.

Those murmurs became all-out hysterical hollering (see above) after the Rules and Bylaws Committee decision on Sunday. They scream that Clinton should be the party nominee because she has the popular vote. Let us count the holes in this logic, shall we?

The big one, of course, is the most simple: the popular vote is not what matters in the Democratic Party’s nominating process. But let’s play along anyway. By any reasonable measure, the Clinton supporters’ argument only works if you get really, really fuzzy on the math. Clinton’s popular vote tally counts Michigan — which of course, you can’t, as every other candidate removed their name from the ballot there in accordance with party instructions. In this math, her die-hards are not counting the nearly forty percent of people who voted “uncommitted,” even though they were almost certainly Obama supporters. They’re just counting Clinton’s.

So fine, Obama gets zero votes there. But they also count Florida, another penalized state whose primary wasn’t supposed to count. Clinton ‘wins’ there by default, because no one else besides her did any campaigning in the state because they followed the rules.

And for good measure, they count Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington — all caucus states, with no formal popular vote count. (It’s worth noting that Obama won all of these but Nevada.) These last numbers are essentially made up out of thin air.

So, here we are. If you count a bunch of states that don’t count and don’t award Obama votes from these by-default victories in those states and then make up some numbers, Clinton is inarguably ahead in the popular vote.

These people are screaming it’s not fair and she’s the insurgent candidate being robbed by elites — even though the Clintons are the very definition of party insiders and she is the candidate who had every institutional and pecuniary advantage when the campaign began. The only way she wins the nomination now is by essentially destroying the party and (subsequently getting mollywhopped in November), but i get the impression, that this is what people like Harriet Christian really want.

I’m loath to call these people crazy, but that only leaves me with adjectives that are much less fitting.

G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.

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  • rakia

    Hill and her supporters keep trying to change the rules as this thing plods along. It’s absurd that she would try to count Michigan and Florida. I found myself liking Barack even more when I learned that he was willing to negotiate and allow her some of those votes. (WTF?!) She didn’t deserve any of them; she agreed to the rules like e’erbody else. Had the roles been reversed, she’d never have allowed the votes to count. But Barack is trying to be civil. He’s giving her the chance to bow out with a little grace. Here’s hoping she takes him up on the offer and gives a grand concession speech tomorrow (after the last primaries wrap up).

  • This is madness. Why is this woman (or anyone else) so upset by the decisions. She’s down by so much. Am I just too logical to understand any of this? Are they angry because they honestly believe she’s being cheated – votes miscounted, treated unfairly by the party & media OR are they angry because they support her so vehemently and she’s down by so much she’s likely to lose?

    It’s like HRC and Geraldine-ites are so fricking angry because they felt entitled to win this party election. “It was time for a woman -which means white woman – to be the nominee…We’ll break the color barrier at another time”.

    This woman’s anger is so out-of hand. If he’s inadequate, fine. But to emphasize that his inadequacy is related to his race – wrong.

  • rakia

    And another thing! Why does this lady think the only reason Obama’s running is to upset Hill’s chances? She needs to get over herself. In a f**kin’ hurry.

  • This is an extraordinary time in our nation’s history when an African American male and white female are competing for the nomination of a major party for President of the U.S. Therefore the emotions are understandably high, because the loser’s supporters will feel that they will have to wait decades for another opportunity to see this happen again. Many of Hillary’s supporters are older females who probably feel this will never happen in their life time – a female with an opportunity to lead our nation. I know as an African American male, I also feel that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see history made in this country for an African America to be seriously considered for President. What we are seeing is the byproduct of our country’s historically unfair system that has prevented women, African Americans, and other minorities from enjoying equal rights and access to success and power in this country. Hopefully both women and African Americans, and Hispanics and other disenfranchised groups can join forces to ensure that this is not a once in a lifetime opportunity but becomes a realistic possibility every day for us to lead this country and shape the history of our world.

  • quadmoniker

    Not to play armchair psychiatrist, but I do wonder if this woman is just a little unhinged: “Why do you need my name, are you part of the CIA?” The loudest people, the ones who would travel to D.C. to seek out a hearing, are the fringe zealots who believe Clinton is being cheated. Obviously racism and sexism are all over the place this primary season, but I do think it would be unfair to conflate this woman’s behavior with that of all Clinton supporters. Most Clinton supporters are probably just staying home, disappointed but not screaming at cameras. I think Harriet and her ilk are just the supporters who are left.

  • Hmm, that lady reminds me of my late Jamaican grandmother (not the ‘inadequate black male’ part, but the anger and frustration of being older and feeling marginalized).

    But like I said at my own spot, we have a nominee and his name is Barack Obama.

  • You know…politics makes folks do and say crazy things. Does it ever. But I do have to say as a Washington voter who has gone through three rounds now (another part 2 of Round 3 coming next week at the State Convention), Hillary and Co. have never counted WASH among their “popular vote” totals as far as I’m aware. It has pissed me off that she’s pretty much counted out ALL caucus states because only the elite, non-working, non-white, non-whateverelsedoesn’tsuitherfancy folks were able to vote in them. Give. Me. A. Break. Listen closely to Clinton lately and note that the latest caveat is “More people have voted for me in a Presidential Primary than any other candidate in history.” When even THAT is a farce (you can’t count Florida because though folks voted, it wasn’t an official, sanctioned Presidential primary–and only wackjobs would begin to say Michigan “counts” as a “contest”–who contested the ballot??), it is long time for the crazy to come out after midnight.

  • This is my first time here and will definitely not be the last. Excellent content and coverage.

    I don’t have much to add to the discussion that hasn’t already been said, but I will say that Hillary has completely lost my respect during this campaign process. Initially I had a very open mind in terms of which candidate I wanted to support, but Hillary’s spoiled child syndrome, questionable ethics, and dirty politics have made it impossible for me to consider casting a vote for her in any election…ever.

    Many of us suffer the effects of race and gender inequalities, but I fail to see how anyone can view a vote for Hillary as an act of liberation from established norms. The reign of the Bushes and Clintons in recent political history has become somewhat of a self-imposed oligarchy in this country. People who feel disengaged, disenfranchised, and marginalized in the current political system should weigh the symbolic value of having a female president versus the reality that Hillary is unlikely to do anything significant to change the status quo.

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