I am also troubled with the pressure put on some of the black SDs. I believe it would be a huge story in the press and on the blogs if pressure was being put on white and women SDs to move to Hillary Clinton.

Also, you list some good points for pushing WHY to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Progressive Blue

Understood, but unfortunately, those relatively few do so much damage.

It's nice to see some good people stand up to preserve the principle.  This is the kind of politician that we want in the office.

"For a while now, it has been confirmed that black superdelegates are being threatened to support Obama...even receiving death threats. We all know that Jesse Jackson Jr. has his own part in the threatening. John Lewis has switched from Clinton to Obama, which I think is strongly do to threatening and not actually his own opinion, but that is my own thought and I cannot speak for him."

And it's even more ridiculous to imply that John Lewis, a great man who stood up and fought for our  rights and was nearly beaten to death by crowds of racists and the police for it, 'caved' under any of this kind of pressure to support Obama.  

This diary is absolutely disgusting.

"Its the Victim mentality."?  "The affirmative Action mentality."?  This is straight-up right-wing bullshit.  I don't buy for one moment the idea that you're a Democrat.

I have no idea who you are, but if I had to guess, I would think that you are a Republican troll.

In fact, they have occurred on both sides. In my opinion, they are just the result of a few overzealous supporters. I think that after Ted Kennedy endorsed Obama, NOW put out a press release bashing him for supposedly being anti-feminist (or something of that nature - I'm going from memory here.)

However, I think its just stupid to say that John Lewis switched his support because of threats. Do you know what sorts of things he suffered from white racists during the Civil Rights movement? You can still see many of the scars on his head today. I think we can trust that John Lewis is the type of person who would make decisions out of principle, and not out of fear. He is one of the politicians whom I most respect, because of that.

Great diary! Thanks so much.  

Yes... there is somehow this strange double standard going on that I don't think we'll be able to appreciate until a good deal of time has passed...Hillary fights on...and wow, do I respect her for that...as I also respect those who are able to stand by their convictions in spite of the unwarranted pressures put upon them...John Lewis may be more emotionally damaged than any can realize...and what a shame...he has been a such a hard working champion for racial equality...not a just a well-spoken(i.e. silver-tongued) newcomer who, apparently, thinks it's fine to destroy anyone who stands in his way. If one were to look at history,over the years Bill and Hillary Clinton have worked harder than BO for the civil rights of African Americans ...what a sham and a shame, what's going on here...susanclare

Yet another disgusting comment in this diary.  

uprated because the comment does not deserve to be zero rated.

All six of them?

SuperDelegates have been around since at least 1972, doing precisely what they're charged with doing in this election: make choices for the good of the Democratic party, based on their closer knowledge of the candidates.  

Why is it that this is the first election in 36 years where they are being bullied/harassed/ threatened & worse?  Why is the assumption being made that they must follow the voters, when we have expressly asked them to exercise their judgment as experienced, professional politicians?

As this week has progressed and Sen. Obama has been revealed as a duplicitous liar, I have become sickened.  But his actions toward his own people---honestly, I am now afraid for us all.  I'm counting on my family & friends in Texas, and voters in Ohio, Vermont, & Rhode Island to stop this.

The story must have some truth to it and some legs; CNN has picked it up and run with it.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/29/o bama.defections/index.html

...for those who haven't seen it yet, there's a message from Maya on this link:

http://www.taylormarsh.com/hot_topics.ph p#1661

Enjoy!

"when there was no statistical evidence."

Honestly, I am just confused by this statement.  Even were I to accept everything else in your comment as true, I would not get the point of statistical evidence. What statistical evidence would you suggest as evidence of racism.

Should Obama have sent a survey out asking people if they perceived that there had been racist attacks?  Should the FEC have implemented a longitudinal study to examine the trends of racism in primary elections?

I'm not trying to be snarky, I just am at a complete loss to understand what statistical evidence you are looking for that would have been in any way pertinent?

To throw my own two cents in, it seems to me that such claims are far more qualitative than quantitative, so I am not sure that statistics could or would substantiate these claims.

You may mean a very small amount that is bashing her openly...but there are plurality who support this detestable behavior.  I, so, happen to be an African American...there's a great deal of racial preference (or preference).

Google the article from 2/29's Houston Press titled "Obama and me" from a young reporter in Chicago during the early years when Obama first became a state legislator. It is an eye opener!

I wonder how you folks are going to turn around and support Obama after all of this anger at him.

I'm guessing a lot of you will vote Nader or McCain.

Am I right?

I thought the great thing that Cleaver also said was when he asked about why Kennedy and Kerry have not switched to Hillary, if the rationale for the superdelegates being pressured to abandon Clinton is because of what their constituents voted.

They are perverting the role of the super delegate. They are demanding that his white supporters be colorblind, but the AA super delegates and voters must support him because of his race. The infamous line "do you want to be the last person that stands in the way of electing the first AA president?" posed to John Lewis says it all.  His candidcay is a statement, but they forget that his presidency affects all of us, and the entire world. He's not ready and I'm not willing to take a chance on another image-based candidate just to make a statement about racism (which is ironic because the actions of those intimidating the super delegates can clearly be construed as racist.)  

The thing that makes no sense to me is this attitude that all African Americans need to support Obama because of his race.  If Obama's looks resembled the physical characteristics of his Irish mother, would this be an issue?

The exit polls in pretty much every state contradict the premise of this diary.

Read the linked story.  There is not one word to suggest that the Obama campaign has done anything to threaten anyone. Here is what the story says.

"Cleaver said he did not believe the Obama campaign was behind the disturbing e-mails and phone calls he has received.

"I refuse to believe that Sen. Obama gave orders for something like this to happen. This is a contradiction of the new politics that Sen. Obama is running on," he said. "My fear is with all of the nastiness, we're going to have a whole lot of kissing and making up to do as a party."

It is a smear for you to suggest otherwise.

from cnn

    But other African-American politicians find the shifting loyalties disturbing.

   "With all due respect to my colleagues, whoever you are, I firmly believe if you don't have loyalty and integrity, what do you have? ... I am a woman of my word. I will not leave her," said Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

   Neither will California Rep. Diane Watson, though she said she's received not only pressure, but also threatening e-mails. "We can disagree. But I don't think that's a cause for viciousness and for launching a campaign against me," Watson said.

I know just what will win Clinton back the support of the black voters that she lost in the last 12 months -- calling Jesse Jackson a "race hustler."

That's an awfully low opinion of Rep. Lewis.

Jesse Jackson is a race hustler.

Hmmm, and you are a Democrat ???

There are many different situations that have happened in this campaign that are quite disturbing - had Senator Clinton or her campaign done any of them- she would not be making her last stand in Texas and Ohio

Mark Penn ties to Exelon- translates to 0.00 dollars in campaign contributions
Obama and Axelrod ties to Exelon- translates into $177,000.00 in campaign donations

Obama refuses/makes sure/goes out of his way to tell SF Mayor Willie Brown that he does not want to be photographed with Gavin Newsome.

Hillary writes an open letter to the LGBT community in beginning of Feb

Obama writes an open letter to the LGBT community at the END of Feb.

Obama stumps through SC with Rev. McClurkin-

www.politicalamnesia.blogspot.com

Thanks for the post-

Well, somebody (Freedom is not Free) I think wisely asked:  "Is Ted Kennedy and John Kerry going to listen to their constituents and vote for Clinton?"  That was on the politico site--but it seems even that site is greatly limiting thoughtful replies.  So since my reply got "killed in moderation" there, I thought I'd report it here.  But in doing so, I'd also like to thank HillaryKnight08 for pointing out "just a few" of Hillary's many accomplishments.  And as is so often the case, and hinted at by many throughout this thread, it is often a few squeaky wheels in any group that tend to be most verbal that get the proverbial grease (or in this case press coverage).  And I guess this Primary is no different.

I believe the question I quoted also once again highlights a bigger issue as well.  As a now frequent watcher of the election news shows and of these various online news sites, I've yet to see one talking head on any of the new shows or purportedly "unbiased" journalists reporting on this election in the news to ask this very same question--in fact, the only mention I've seen of it was by one of Hillary's male African American supporters mentioning it on CNN the other night--not that the host opted to actually discuss it at all unfortunately.  Yet we all know how much press the issue of African American delegates being pressured to vote for Obama is getting (as well as how much one influential switch from Clinton to Obama due to the voting of his district rather than a change of his own beliefs, which he reaffirmed even as announcing his switch, is getting covered while the fact that another very influential "minority" superdelegate who switched from Obama to Clinton because she realized she felt Clinton had more to offer received almost no coverage).  Yet once again, only those things that might appear negative to Clinton are being heavily reported on, with spin geared to make them seem more negative, while the reverse is surely not happening.  

In recent days (since Clinton highlighted the obvious at the Ohio debate, which most also managed to make seem as if she was whining vs. simply pointing out an obvious fact even while graciously noting she didn't have a problem answering first and continued doing so), it seems the press is finally acknowledging this and perhaps making an effort to correct this. So perhaps we'll get to see somebody in the news asking Ted Kennedy and John Kerry that question yet.  I'm not going to hold my breath, though, because Clinton is unfortunately and obviously competing against not only Obama but also the press.  I can only hope that more people will actually look beneath the sound bites and headlines before it is too late!  As Dr. Maya Angelou so poetically states:  "Rise, Hillary, Rise!"  However, all that being said, the most important thing to anybody truly voting on the issues is to keep McCain out of the White House--hopefully the DNC and the SuperDelegates will be smart enough to not set our primary up to be a "foul," which I believe they're currently doing, and to hand the election to the Republicans in the fall.  But we the voters will have a lot to do with that as well.  

Most of the superdelegates that have recently come for Obama are white.

Yet the media and this poster want to make the superdelegate movement about race.