I have always liked former congressman Martin Frost. Before he was targeted by DeLay's redistricting and lost his congressional seat, Frost was one of the leading liberal voices in the House of Representatives. But I have to wonder what the hell he is thinking with his newest proposal?
Frost has now come up with a proposal to "solve" the Democratic dilemma over Michigan and Florida delegates being banned from voting for president at the National Convention. Frankly, I don't think his idea would solve anything, but it could make things worse.
Frost says, "A small meeting of respected top party leaders such as DNC Chairman Howard Dean, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and two key governors — one committed to Barack Obama (Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas, for example) and one committed to Hillary Clinton (Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, for example) — could be convened to hammer out a compromise that then would be implemented by the DNC. A perfect chair for this meeting would be former Sen. John Edwards, who has not endorsed either of the remaining candidates."
He would then have this committee meet in private to reach an agreement whereby the delegates of the two states would be seated. This has all the stench of the old smoke-filled back-room deals of party bigshots. I can't believe that such a deal would be accepted by the millions who have voted and obeyed the rules.
Both states knew what the party rules were before they ever moved their primaries to break those rules. They were repeatedly warned by party leaders, but ignored those leaders and the rules. They evidently thought they were too "special" to have to obey the same rules as all the other states. Now they must pay the price for that disobedience.
I could possibly see letting them have a do-over -- a primary or caucus within party rules. But they don't want to do that. They want a special exception made for themselves, and that is wrong. A back-room deal would be just as wrong.
Just as the superdelegates cannot overrule the vote of the populace, neither can a back-room deal. Either one would give the perception to voters that the party doesn't care what they want, and could result in thousands of voters staying home in November.
I can't believe that Frost has thought this idea through. His rush to include Michigan and Florida, could have the effect of excluding many voters in other states.
Michigan and Florida democrats have only one group to blame for their woes- and that's their state party leadership. It's no one else's responsibility to let them out of the pit those people put their constituents in. It sucks, because it surely will cause more people in those states to be swayed from the Democratic party temporarily. But that's what happens when they try to game the rules.
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