David Corn: The Ickes Threat - Empty Or Not?

[Hissyspit]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/05/the-ickes-threat-empty-or-not.html

The Ickes Threat: Empty or Not?
By David Corn | May 31, 2008 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

Okay, I was wrong--partially--when I speculated that the meeting of the Democratic Party's rules committee would be anti-climactic...

- snip -

After the committee voted 19-8 in favor of the Michigan plan, Ickes, a top Clinton aide and a member of the committee, issued what will from now on be known as the Ickes Proclamation. He declared that the committee was hijacking delegates from Clinton. "I am stunned that we have the gall and chutzpah to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters," he said. He presented a threat: "I submit to you that hijacking four delegates is not a good way to start down the path of party unity." And he dropped a bomb: Clinton reserved the right to appeal the decision before the credentials committee at the convention.

It was as if Ickes was saying, "Watch out, we're going to the mattresses." Too bad he's not heavier; otherwise, James Gandolfini could play him in the HBO movie.

But his threat was odd. It could only put off the superdelegates that Clinton still hopes--against hope--to convince. It also undermined one possible Clinton game plan: be a good soldier, do everything possible to help Obama win, and then, should he lose to John McCain, proclaim, "I told you so" and automatically become the Democratic front-runner for 2012. And with all his talk of "hijacking" and top-down elitism, Ickes was questioning the legitimacy of the process that is on the verge of handing Obama the top prize. Ickes was pushing a rhetorical point--Obama's win ain't legit--that Clinton herself has made.

Then there's the substance of Ickes' outrage. He pilloried his fellow rules committee members for supposedly overriding the will of Democratic voters in Michigan. They really hadn't. It was impossible to know the will of Michigan Ds because Obama was not on the ballot for the state's disputed primary contest. But handing delegates only to Clinton would have been patently unfair. That aside, Ickes' argument was situational, not principled. His campaign's overall strategy (and its only chance) is to persuade superdelegates to choose Clinton even if Obama has won more delegates in the primaries and caucuses. So who's the true fan of voter-first, small-d democracy?

Ultimately, Ickes' threat may not matter. If Clinton suspends her campaign shortly after the primaries end on Tuesday and (after a period of mourning) gets on board the Obama express, Ickes tough words will be forgotten. Clinton even could raise the issue at the convention as the losing candidate in a fashion that would not be too disruptive--that is, if she has endorsed Obama and does not tie the Michigan fight to any outcome in the nomination process. But if she and Ickes and the rest of the Clinton posse continue to question the legitimacy of Obama's victory, there will be problems. For the moment, they can play it both ways. But they soon have to decide if their threats are empty or real.

David Corn is the author in 2003 of 'The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception' and, with Michael Isikoff, in 2006 of 'Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War.'

[dana_b]

1. wow - a fairly objective piece

that's hard to find thee days.

[cliffordu]

2. No kidding. Kicked!!

[Gore1FL]

3. For what it is worth

In the legal system, a record of protest is often required to pursue an issue further.

I may have been leaving the door open rather than assuring the opening would ever be used.

I didn't support the Clinton campaign, and will certainly declare they did some major miscalculations. Nonetheless, they are not idiots. They will not pursue this unless it truly has a chance of working--and upon working make a difference. I don;t think there is the remotest chance of the later, and only a slight chance of the first.

[tularetom]

4. They've painted themselves into a corner

After all this tough talk and whipping their idiot supporters into a frenzy they have to something or risk being labeled wimps. But the longer it goes on the tougher it's going to be for them to fashion a graceful exit.

It's gonna be ugly. But it might be funny. And it isn't going to affect Obama's chances much at all.

[LakeSamish706]

5. There is not and never has been any doubt in my mind that the Clintons...

and her devoted supporters like Ickes have one thing in mind, if we don't win the nomination we will destroy the Democratic party.... We are not going to stand by watching a Barack Obama garnering the nomination... Period.... And that was plenty clear during the RBC meeting of yesterday when the Hillary crowd were voicing their opinions from the gallery...

[Growler]

6. I totally agree with you n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Oh. THAT Ickes.

I thought this was maybe gonna be something good, like about lizards.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. (Icke. Ickes. I know, I know.) (nt)

[beac]

9. "Oh That Ickes!" will be the title of the NBC sitcom based on the 2008 Dem primaries.

I hear Tom Cruise is up for the roll of Ickes.