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illusionofjoyI generally like to sleep in on weekends. However, Friday night I left my alarm set to go off at its usual time in order to attend the 2008 Democratic Platform Committee Meeting, as it was being held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. On the morning of Saturday, August 9th, my alarm clock began screeching as it usually does only on weekdays and I dragged my beleaguered carcass out of bed, made a pot of coffee and took a shower before heading out to catch a trolley headed downtown.
The event was open to the public, provided one registered between 8:00 and 9:30AM. A table was set up outside of the Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom (the location of the meeting on the 3rd floor of the Convention Center) where members of the general public could sign in as a guest. At that table, one could also pick up copies of the meeting agenda along with a draft of the 2008 Democratic National Platform, entitled "Renewing America's Promise."
Between the time I entered my registration and got my guest pass and the start of the meeting, I had an hour to kill. During that time, I visited a table set up by proponents of HR 676, a bill in congress which proposes to provide universal single-payer healthcare for all Americans. More information about HR 676 can be found at HealthCare-NOW! Those who, like me, live in Western Pennsylvania can visit the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare. After receiving some literature and stickers from them (I put on the Support HR 676 sticker next to my "Hillary for President" sticker), I sat down to thumb through "Renewing America's Promise."
The draft of the Democratic Platform is a 51 page document divided in four main sections plus a preamble. The four major sections are as follows:
I. Renewing the American Dream
II. Renewing American Leadership
III. Renewing the American Comminity
IV. Renewing American Democracy
In the time that I looked through the document, I managed to skim through every section. Had I registered and got a copy the previous afternoon, I would have been able to more fully absorb and digest it, however, the only section I was able to read in full was the preamble. As such, I focused on sections of more personal interest to me, while skimming the document overall. The led me to Section IV: Renewing American Democracy - in particular, the subsection entitled "Voting Rights." At one paragraph totalling 16 lines, the plank seemed not only brief but weak, when one considers what occurred during this year's Democratic primary. I had hoped that an amendment to the document would address this issue.
Please note, as the 2008 Democratic Party Platform will not be made official until the convention, copies are not available on The Democratic Party website. However, one should be able to email platform@dnc.org to procure a copy of the current draft. Barring that, send me a message and I'll take a trip to Staples and make a photocopy (though I may ask that you be willing to defer the costs of copying and postage - it is a 51-page document, after all).
Prior to the meeting being called to order, I met up with other Hillary Clinton supporters/PUMAs outside of the Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom and we ended up sitting together once the doors were opened. Introductory statements were made by DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who introduced the members of the committee, including committee chairs: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Juidth McHale and former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid, all whom made opening remarks after Chairman Dean made his introductions. Presentation of the Platform was given by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano.
The opening remarks took long enough that a ten-minute recess was called before the committee moved to Consideration of the Platform. I had brought my laptop along and during this time, attempted to get a wifi signal in the convention center so that I could post a quick entry to my journal and No Quarter contributor ProudMilitaryMom could send an email update. Unfortunately, the only signals available inside the center were either reserved for the press or available for attendees for a charge ($5 for one hour or $15 for a full day). I was unwilling to pull out my credit card for something I was certain I could get for free if I looked hard enough.
A total of 127 amendments to the draft platform were proposed. Attempts to follow along as amendments were withdrawn proved futile, as numbers were read through quite quickly. By the time a lunch break was called, amendments for nearly half of the document had been either voted on or withdrawn from consideration.
It was during lunch that I was able to find a free wifi signal and post a quick entry about my impressions up until that point. ProudMilitaryMom was also able to send her email.
Before the meeting was called to order and during breaks, a group of Hillary Clinton supporters stood at the corner of 10th Street and Penn Avenue outside of the Convention Center. A few cars honked in solidarity as people drove by. While, I don't do the whole standing out in the sun thing if I can avoid it, I was with them in spirit. I was also preoccupied with trying to get - and keep - a wifi signal and felt that I was better off trying to keep an eye on my party inside of the Convention Center.
As I mentioned previously, the "Voting Rights" subsection of "Renewing American Democracy" seemed weak. Amendments 93 and 102 would have strengthened this section. Amendment 93, sponsored by Bob Remer of Illinois, would have added the following two paragraphs to the subsection:
Caucuses undermine these core Democratic values. Caucuses inherently disenfranchise the elderly, disabled, shift workers, single parents and others whose circumstance prohibits participation in caucuses. Further the 2008 primaries illustrated that a caucus vote is worth more than a primary vote because each delegate elected by caucus represents fewer voters than each delegate elected by primary. Caucuses allow party officials, spouses, employers or other aggressive participants to exert undue influence and coercion over voters. Caucuses are also immune from federal oversight, while primaries are subject to federal election law.
Therefore, the Democratic Party will forbid caucuses in all future nominating processes and will require all states to conduct primaries to selection their delegates to future national conventions.
As Amendment 93 was called for consideration and Bob Remer took the floor to summarise it, several other delegates lined up at the microphone set up for those who wished to argue in opposition of amendments. They never had a chance to voice their opposition, as a "point of order" was instead called on the amendment. Patricia Madrid agreed with the point of order stating that election procedures did not belong in the Democratic Platform, such matters instead being the purview of the Rules Committee (the very same committee who turned Florida voters into half citizens, who assumed that all uncommitted voters in Michigan actually meant "Obama" and who stole four Clinton delegates from her and brazenly gave them to Obama).
Amendment 102, which dealt with ending geographical preferences in delegate counts, was struck down on a point of order before it even had an opportunity to be summarised. Amendment 93 and 102 were the only two amendments throughout the entire meeting to suffer this fate. There was no discussion and no chance to vote on their validity - the committee unilaterally decided that the issue would not even be addressed, which in of itself is a poor indicator as to the regard with which an Obama-led Democratic Party would hold the voices of American voters. I am reminded of a line from George Orwell's Animal Farm: "some animals are more equal than others." Are some voters more equal than others?
A couple of media outlets have reported the events. The Los Angeles Times has this to say:
PITTSBURGH -- Hillary Rodham Clinton loyalists tried Saturday to kill off the caucus system that proved so damaging to her presidential bid, but were beaten back by a Democratic Party leadership firmly under the command of her former rival, Barack Obama.
Democrats who supported the New York senator's candidacy pushed to amend the new party platform so that caucuses would be banned in future presidential contests.
But the party's platform committee refused to allow a vote on the amendment or even a discussion. Co-chair Patricia Madrid, a former New Mexico attorney general, said the matter would instead be taken up at a later date by the party's rules committee.
That left Clinton supporters disappointed. They say that if the party were serious about enfranchising more voters, it would take a clear position against a system that makes participation difficult for shift workers, the disabled and overseas members of the military. In traditional primaries, people have all day to vote. But a caucus may last just a few hours.
During the Democratic race, Obama outmaneuvered Clinton in Iowa and many other states that held caucuses, turning out far more supporters and racking up enough delegates to give him an insurmountable lead.
"My feeling is the issue should have been aired and people should have had the opportunity to speak and vote it up or down," Bob Remer, a delegate for Clinton from Chicago, said in an interview Saturday. Remer, who is a member of the platform committee, had put forward the amendment that was shelved. "The caucus system is the exact opposite of everything I've been fighting for in terms of maximizing democratic input."
Meanwhile McClatchy had this to say:
PITTSBURGH — Devoted Hillary Clinton supporters urged the Democratic Party Saturday to end caucuses, the town hall meetings in states like Iowa where Clinton's presidential campaign first stumbled and Barack Obama launched his march to the nomination.
They didn't prevail — the Democratic National Committee's platform committee Saturday ruled that such an idea doesn't belong in the party platform. But their complaint about the caucuses as unfair could be the start of a long-term quest to change the way the Democrats pick their presidential nominees.
Honestly, I wonder what those who were lining up at that opposition microphone would have said. Would they really have been so brazen as to argue for the disenfranchisement of voters? The democratic party has done a lot of brazen things in this election season, so frankly, nothing shocks or surprises me anymore.
After banging out another journal entry from the convention center, I decided to leave. Frankly, I'd had my fill of politics for the day and the message had been loud and clear: "nothing else in this document matters, so long as we can control the will of the voters or the perception thereof." Change will not come from Obama; change will come from those who oppose him and refuse to be driven out of a party who is losing its direction. Rest assured, I will continue to fight to put the Democratic Party back on the right track (that is to say, leftward leaning, of course), and if a humiliating defeat in November is what it takes, then so be it.
