Whether morning or night, the time is always right for some hard-nosed political bloggin'. Thanks for stopping by for the coverage- now, let's get it started.
No Time for 'Democracy' in Burma:
As tens of thousands of Burmese citizens clung to survival Saturday, the country's ruling military junta insisted, in many cases with the barrel of a gun, it is reported, that its citizens take part in a national referendum on reformation of the country's constitution.
The election, military leaders said, is a key step on the country's path toward a democratic election in 2010. But even the most ardently pro-democratic outsiders, who already viewed the junta's pledges in support of, and movement towards, citizen-run government with much skepticism, were outraged by the junta's devotion of any resources toward an election at a time when as many as 100,000 Burmese have died due to a cyclone that hit the country one week ago and hundreds of thousands more now live on the brink of death, in light of severe food and clean water shortages.
Burmese officials have been criticized this week by leaders of the United Nations and World Food Programme for their unwillingness to allow aid workers enter and make deliveries in the country more quickly. Moreover, some argue that generals have labeled food aid as home-grown and are using the distribution of the high-energy biscuits provided by foreign donors as a propaganda tool to show cyclone sufferers that the government is doing its part to restore order and quell the suffering of the masses.
Still, signs of hope emerged today as foreign aid workers were able to, in fits and start, get some of their vital materials into the country, and a U.S. aid plane is said to have been given clearance for a delivery on Monday. However, with hundreds of thousands of citizens fighting for survival, every minute in which aid is denied those hardest hit is one minute too many and could bring the already unconscionable death toll ever higher.
Obama on the Move, Overtakes Clinton in Superdelegate Tally:
Building on a swath of new superdelegate support announced Friday, Obama, on Saturday, picked up the backing of five new supers from Ohio, Arizona, Utah, and two from the Virgin Islands, who'd previously given their endorsement to Hillary Clinton.
with the party elite coalescing behind the idea of an Obama nomination, Clinton's days in the race for the presidency are numbered.
According to the AP, Senator Obama now leads Clinton 276-271.5 in the critical race for the party leaders who will, ultimately, decide the Democratic nomination. Having trailed Obama in the contest for pledged delegates for some time, Clinton had relied on the support of superdelegates in her capmaign's math for the nod. Many of these officials, pundits reckoned, would remain loyal to Hillary because of ties established with the Clintons during their time in the White House. However, even allegiance to Bill has not prevented many from detracting to the Obama camp, with notable examples including New Mexico Governor Big Bill, as well as Joe Andrew of Indiana, a former head of the Democratic National Committee, who took the helm with the backing of Bill Clinton in the late 1990s.
Losing her edge among superdelegates further muddles Clinton's potential for winning the nomination. She now trails Obama by a margin of nearly 170 delegates, pledged and super, and would need huge margins of victories in the remaining six electoral contests, as well as a sharp turning of the tides in superdelegate momentum for Obama, in order to overtake him.
In short, this won't happen. As party leader and former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern stressed on Thursday in changing his allegiance from Clinton to Obama, it has come time for Democrats to come together behind their likely nominee and build a winning strategy for victory in November. That nominee is Barack Obama; Clinton would do well to acknowledge this reality and exit the race soon.
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