"Im-potent" People versus the Grand Poohbahs - Part 2

This second half of the meeting recap is late – after watching what appeared to be a surreal discussion session by the committee members, during which floor supporters of Hillary Clinton proceeded to show their natural asses, and committee member Harold Ickes progressed from veiled sarcasm to some sort of tepid outburst, working the words “ass” into at least two comments, I took a cigar break, joining S. outside with a glass of wine to decompress after viewing the meeting practically in toto.

“Baby,” I said as I puffed on my cigar, “the world is upside down right now. Black people are now the voice of reason, and white folks have lost their minds. I knew this was coming, but actually seeing it happen…damn.”



The "im-potent" people who were the stars of the meeting before lunch were quiet now. The screaming Clinton supporters who raged on during statements by the committee members were ridiculous – in the vein of Donna Brazile’s remark, my mother would have said “they don’t have any home training. That’s why they are acting like that.”

If I was Hillary, I’d tell Harold Ickes not to invoice me for this meeting. The thing that got me more than his bizarre performance was the incredible comment by Wolf Blitzer afterwards that made Ickes to be “in a rage”. It was “vintage Ickes” on display, Blitzer continued. Actually, if that was “vintage Ickes” I can see why the Clinton campaign is in disarray. Why did they rely so much on people who have never really WORKED at anything but trading on their names or some great thing they might have done years ago?

What black people said during the second half of the meeting – these are excerpts from a New York Times article:

Committee member Everett Ward fires back at Mr. Ickes: “This motion puts an opportunity for the people of Michigan supported by them and the Democratic Party to have an opportunity to participate in this process. Not anywhere in this motion does it say that the unpledged delegates will go to Senator Obama. Not in the motion. So for a colleague who exercises selective amnesia continuously to sit at this table and try to suggest that we are doing something that blocks voters and hijacks a process I find it somewhat subjective.”

This comment came after Ickes attempted to reprimand his fellow committee members by asserting that they were not bowing to the doctrine of “fair reflection” that he claimed was a “bedrock” of Democratic party principles. He also implied that the committee was “hijacking” the democratic process.

Committee member Hartina Flournoy predicted correctly that the motion on seating all of the Florida delegates “has no chance of passing this body,” but voted for it anyway.

We marveled at the blonde hue of Flournoy's short hair, carefully waved against her head, and decided that she looked like a friend of ours. Hard to believe she was from DC and was for Clinton, but its a free country.

Committee member Alice Huffman began by placing a motion on the floor to fully seat the Florida delegates – it was met by swift applause. As Ms. Huffman began speaking on her motion, Alexis Herman, the other committee co-chair, committed a minor error of parliamentary procedure. (”My error. I’m really ready to go home,” Ms. Herman said.)

Ms. Huffman picked things up from there, saying that Democrats should not be penalized for a decision to move up the state’s primary made by Republicans. She added that the voters of Florida were this victims in all of this.

Ms. Huffman acknowledged that her motion “runs a little counter to what we’ll do in 2012 and how we’ll operate as a rules body in the future.” But she said the committee had to do something to unite the Democratic Party in November, especially when it comes to keeping the voters happy in the battleground state of Florida.

Ms. Huffman seemed to be the straw man (or straw woman), appointed by the Clinton campaign to raise the motion to seat ALL the Florida delegates – she made sure she included the obligatory aside about the civil rights struggle, and threw MLK’s name in there for good measure.

But with these concepts, equality for all and an inspiration to “get to the mountaintop”, wouldn’t you think she should be…oh, never mind, some of us have to do our own thing.

Alexis Herman was the undisputed ruler of the dais – Roosevelt’s grandson did not have the seasoning Herman had picked up as Labor Secretary in – wait, didn’t she gain her claim to fame years ago in the first Clinton White House? Her expressions were hard to read as she listened to deliberations.

In any case, she didn’t have to vote, there was no riot, and they got to go home today after deciding to halve the votes of both the Florida and Michigan delegations, allowing the full delegate slates to go to the convention in Denver.

Next stop tomorrow afternoon - Puerto Rico. Can Obama pull out an upset?