A Victory Lap

Sen. Obama has run his victory lap around Capital Hill today and has declared that on May 20th he will give his acceptance speech and thank the voters for their participation in the Democratic process to decide the party nominee. There is no doubt that Sen. Obama would make a great President, just as good as Sen. Clinton would. This is also an historic election because a woman and black man are running for the Oval Office for the 1st time. This is, however, also the first time a party candidate decides when the process should end. Instead of allowing the upcoming Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) meeting of the Democratic Party to decide on the Florida and Michigan issues on may 31st, Sen. Obama has decided that it is unnecessary to wait for the DNC to come up with a solution or at least his strategist have. In other words, since Senator Obama considers himself the winner the rules and bylaws committee does not have to meet; what for? The conflict here is with the party charter and its mandate to be as inclusive as possible and with Sen. Obama because he is disenfranchising the votes of people or voters, party members after May 20th who have yet to vote.

The question then is what is the rules and bylaws committee for if not to decide on questions regarding issues or questions that come up during an election?

By announcing that May 20th Sen. Obama would declare himself the winner he has in effect turned the State of Oregon into the last Battleground State. If Sen. Obama loses Oregon then he would look a little foolish announcing victory on a day he’s lost an important state. The DNC can not allow Sen. Obama to supersede its authority and prematurely declare victory without their consent otherwise like Barry Bonds* Sen. Obama will have an asterisks by his name. It would be wise for Sen. Obama to overturn Sen. Clinton in the next contests or expect to face Sen. Clinton's momentum going into Oregon on May 20th and announce victory on a lost day. The DNC has announced that on May 31st the RBC would meet, so, who is in charge?

Rafael Buelna

Good luck Democrats!