2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Advice to Hillary in advance of her meeting with Sanders on Tuesday [View all]strategery blunder
(4,225 posts)I had expressed the fear early in the primary that Hillary's 400 supers would stay with her even if Bernie won a majority of the pledged delegates. I've long wanted the superdelegate system gone for that reason.
However, those fears did not come to pass. Hillary did win a majority of the pledged delegates, so the spring nailbiting notwithstanding, the superdelegates are irrelevant. (They obviously weren't going the other way.)
Though I supported Bernie, I was not impressed with his plans to "flip" the superdelegates after he lost the New York primary. Yes, that was hypocritical as hell. It smacked of desperation and I feel that it cost Bernie votes that he sorely needed. That is why I waited until after California had voted before deciding whether to contact my superdelegates on the issue. Hillary ended up passing 2026 pledged delegates that day, so I decided against it as I had recognized that Hillary had won.
The Monday AP call with superdelegates committing to Hillary the day before the vote, however, left me equally unimpressed with Hillary, as Bernie's superdelegate desperation had left me with Bernie. It was a near certainty that Hillary would secure enough pledged delegates to reach a pledged delegate majority (and she already had deep superdelegate support) the next day. That wasn't necessary, and why risk looking dirty when those Bernie voters will be needed in the GE?
I can recognize that Hillary won the primary and simultaneously argue for the rules for the next primary to become more democratic. This includes advocating for my state Democratic party to respect the primary provided for by WA state law instead of allocating delegates by caucus--which I repeatedly pointed after my state caucused and Hillary supporters were complaining about how undemocratic caucuses are. After WA switched to primaries, the state Democratic party sued for the right to re-inflict caucuses upon us.