No, Hillary Clinton did not clinch the Democratic nomination today

Last updated on: June 6, 2016 at 7:25 pm by Aziz Poonawalla

No, Hillary Clinton did not clinch the Democratic nomination today 2016-06-06T19:25:42-06:00 Aziz Poonawalla

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The news media is filling with stories about how Hillary has officially clinched the nomination as of June 6th 2016, but this assumes that the superdelegate votes are locked in. Of course, it is unlikely that most of the supers will change their vote, but they have not voted yet. The twitter group People4Bernie sent out the following graphic just moments ago that beautifully summarizes the issue:

demo-nom

The short version is, that Hillary has 1809 delegates to Bernie’s 1528, and they need to reach 2383 to clinch. Hillary therefore needs 574 more, Bernie needs 855 more. The total number of delegates in play on June 7th and June 14th is 714, so it is impossible for any candidate to clinch before June 14th. The superdelegates do not vote until July 25th (at the convention) so including them right now is premature. Bernie is unlikely to win, but he is not mathematically eliminated the way that the GOP candidates were, and Hillary has not clinched the nomination the way Trump has.

Calls for Bernie to drop out are hypocrisy incarnate, given that Hillary herself did not drop out until a week after Obama had clinched (for reals) the nomination in 2008. Bernie has 64% of delegates needed to clinch, versus Hillary’s 76%. This means Bernie’s support is a sizable fraction of the Democratic base and Bernie has every right to stay in the race so that his supporters have a strong voice at the convention.

And before anyone tries to argue that Bernie is hurting Clinton, remember the PUMAs, who all fell in line, despite all claims to the contrary. Example:

“I’m saddened because I just don’t think he decisively won,” said Clinton supporter Dana Marie Kennedy, 40, of Phoenix, who cashed in airline miles to buy a plane ticket from Arizona to Washington to attend Clinton’s event Saturday.

If the primaries has been a general election, Kennedy argued, Clinton’s Florida and Michigan votes would have be counted and her 17.8 million votes would have won out over Obama’s 17.5-million.

“It was the Supreme Court in 2000, and it was the superdelegates in 2008,” she said, bitterly.

Only 47% of Clinton supporters said they were certain to vote for Obama before the Democratic convention – and that number jumped to 65% afterwards. Granted, Hillary conceded before the convention, but Hillary never had the kind of support that Bernie does. That said, there’s no reason to believe “Bernie Bros” are any less the wishful thinking of the favored “Dems in disarray” media narrative than the PUMAs were.

Personally, I believe that Bernie will endorse Clinton and drop out if Hillary reaches 2383 before the convention (as Obama did). However, if Hillary does not reach 2383 before the convention, then Bernie has a duty to go all the way. Especially since there’s no way Donald Trump can win the general election.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 4, 2016

Muhammad Ali's jihad

Next Post

June 8, 2016 Thoughts on Bernie fighting on

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aziz For America Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 September 2013 July 2013 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian principle is shown by the story of the widow's mite?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Give to be seen Generosity from the heart Never give Give only if rich