Whereas: All the Democratic presidential candidates adopted the rules set forth by the DNC Rules and By-Laws Committee prior to the beginning of the 2008 presidential run;
Whereas: A Rules provision for the 2008 presidential run included the sanction of Florida and Michigan delegates for their primaries up the calendar;
Whereas: The DNC recognizes the delegates won, NOT number of votes, to determine its nominee;
Whereas: There was a unanimous agreement by all Democratic presidential candidates that the number of delegates required to clinch the Democratic nomination is 2025;
Whereas: Sen. Clinton, as of mid-February, has called for the sitting of the Michigan and Florida delegates despite her agreement to the DNC Rules;
Whereas: Sen. Clinton, as of May 13 2008, has falsely claimed the popular vote after including the votes from the states of Michigan and Florida;
Whereas: Sen. Obama, as of May 20 2008, has won the majority of the pledged delegates of 1627 out of the unanimous agreement of 2025 pledged delegates to clinch the nomination;
Whereas: Sen. Obama can rightly claim the popular vote after adhering to the DNC rules;
Whereas: Sen. Obama has won twice as many states;
Whereas: Party Leaders, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledge that the candidate who won the majority of the pledged delegate should be the Democratic nominee;
Therefore: We, supporters of and Americans for Obama, petition the DNC to uphold its rules and acknowledge, prior to the DNC Rules and By-Laws meeting on May 31 2008, that Sen. Obama adhered to the rules and should not be disadvantaged at this meeting; we further petition the DNC, though there seems to be a unanimous agreement that the DNC Rules need reforming, that it would be inappropriate to adjust the rules in the middle of the process and appease a campaign the consented to the rules at the beginning of the process.
For all the talk about democracy, democracy constitutes the regard to the rule of law- whether established by a nation or an institution. If a law/rule is established by a democratic process, then it should be maintained whether or not the rule turns out to seem undemocratic. In this particular case, ex post facto adjustments by the DNC Rules and By-Laws Committee should not jeopardize the front-runners standing. We do not presume to support a particular proposal but only that which the Obama campaign (front runner) agrees to. That said, we know that Sen. Obama is a champion for democracy as demonstrated throughout his wonderfully run campaign.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned.
