Sorry Bernlievers out there, but the election for Democratic nominee for president is already over.  One word:  Super Delegates!!

If you don’t know how this works, Democrats have over 4,000 delegates who go to the Democratic convention and vote on who will be the Democratic nominee for president.  Of those delegates, about 80% are “pledged delegates” who are locked into voting for the candidate based on the voting results in their state.  The remaining 20% are “Super Delegates,” who are, generally, elected Democratic members of congress, senators, state and party officials.  These “Super Delegates” can vote for whichever candidate they choose.  All of these delegates go to the Democratic convention, with the pledged delegates already committed based on the primary vote in their state, and the Super Delegates able to do whatever the hell they want.

Now, 20% of the total votes for the Super Delegates doesn’t sound like much.  But here’s the fun part.  The state primaries don’t really decide anything because the pledged delegates in each state are divided roughly proportional to the vote.  In New Hampshire, for example, Bernie crushed Hillary (60% to 38%), but only came out of the state with 15 pledged delegates to Hillary’s 9.  In other states, Hillary will win, and it will all balance out.  So in the end, if it is even remotely close, the Super Delegates will decide the Democratic primary.  

This was all by design.  This system is in place to avoid exactly what is going on the Republican primaries right now.  Even if “the people” vote for a demagogue like Trump, or a radical like Cruz, the adults in the room could step in and settle it with someone who could actually get elected in the general election.  

Sure, you can whine and cry all day that this isn’t “democratic.”  After drying your tears, you could even take solace in the fact that you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.  But, as Hyman Roth said in Godfather II, “This is the business we have chosen.”  Bernie knew the rules going in.  If he wanted to be president, maybe he shouldn’t have run around his whole life calling himself a “socialist” and being a major pain in the ass.  And I’m not saying that Bernie is a radical, but I’m sort of saying that Bernie is a radical. 

And for those of you already in the know on Super Delegates, I hear you saying “Yea, we have been down this road and heard the same thing in aught eight when Hillary had the Super Delegates on lockdown against Obama.”  I remember those days well, because we were a house divided at 4750 Acre Lane, with Trish holding out hope for those Super Delegates coming in for Hillary.  We even had the tee shirts (see above).  Been there, done that.  Well, in 2008, Clinton had a 3 to 1 advantage over Obama to start, and that collapsed. Clinton’s lead right now:  45 to 1.  

FORTY-FIVE TO ONE.  3 to 1 is like the odds of the Broncos winning the Super Bowl this year.  Underdogs, but it happened.  45 to 1 is like the odds of the Bears winning the Super Bowl next year.  Really?  (I just threw that in there because this is supposed to be a gambling site, and to keep some street cred with the bros.)  At any rate, I don’t see Bernie converting the Super Delegates like President Obama did in ’08.

Honestly, I would love nothing more than to see Bernie get elected president, enact every single one of his proposals and tax the shit out of Wall Street transactions that just move money around for the sake of moving money around.  But I also live in the real world.  It is ridiculous to think even the most modest Bernie proposal would get anywhere in the Republican congress.  I would rather have Hillary, who won’t take shit from the Republicans, or anyone for that matter, and will hit back on every attack.  That will at least be entertaining.  

As Tina Fey said about Hillary in ’08, “People say that Hillary is a bitch.  Let me say something about that:  Yea, she is!  And so am I!  Know what?  Bitches get shit done!”