JUNE 7, 2016
Photo: AP
According to the Associated Press and NBC News, Hillary Clinton has amassed enough delegates to be declared the presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.
The two news outlets made their calls on Monday night after separately interviewing previously uncommitted superdelegates who announced that they will support Clinton at the convention. That support has pushed Clinton’s delegate count to 2,385, two more than she needs to claim the nomination.
The rival Bernie Sanders campaign pushed back hard against the “presumptive” label, arguing that she has not passed the threshold because superdelegates (a mix of party leaders and office-holders) shouldn’t count because they cannot vote until the July convention and that they can change their minds at any time.
Even the Clinton campaign, whom you might have expected to be tossing confetti in the air at the announcement of her presumptive nomination, was slightly subdued. They would likely have rather gone over the top with actual votes on today’s primary day in 6 states, rather than with interviews with superdelegates. Clinton was widely expected to hit the magic number after the polls close in New Jersey on Tuesday night, and presumably the celebration will wait until then, but it appeared to be a bit dispiriting that the glass ceiling was actually broken not with a bang but with a whimper.
Even more concerning to the Clinton campaign was that the announcement would depress turnout in the six states holding primaries on Tuesday, particularly in California with 475 delegates up for grabs. Clearly Clinton no longer needs those delegates to go over the top, but a victory there over Sanders would be an important psychological win over Sanders and remove one more reason for him to stay in the race.
It’s ironic that Sanders, who has been saying that Clinton has not clinched the nomination because of she went over the top via superdelegates, had no problem with the very same system eight years ago. On the day of the final Democratic primaries in June 2008, Barack Obama clinched the nomination using the very same system of superdelegates, and two days later Bernie Sanders endorsed him, saying the party had determined its nominee. And this was before Hillary Clinton had even left the race. The system was fine for Sanders in 2008; eight years later, the same system is suddenly not legitimate presumably because he believes that it is working against him.
Published reports indicated that President Obama had a phone conversation with Sanders this past weekend, the subject of which remains private. But it comes as speculation is swirling that Obama will make a formal endorsement of Clinton sometime this week, a move that may make it even harder for Sanders to pry any wavering superdelegates into his camp.
But despite having her parade rained on a little by the early call of her presumed nomination, nothing should diminish the historical moment of a major American party on the verge of nominating someone who may become the first woman to occupy the Oval Office.
When I was a young boy, the prospect of a female President seemed only slightly less far-fetched than the idea of a black Chief Executive. I have lived long enough to witness the latter come to pass, and it may just be a matter of months before the former comes true as well.
