Superdelegates as enablers (but they get to go on t.v.)

Jed has a great post excoriating the superdelegates for sitting back and letting Clinton run her kitchen sink strategy against the Democratic frontrunner:

For most of this campaign, the Democratic Party has been unified by optimism that our eventual nominee would trounce the Republican candidate in November, 2008. That began to change towards the end of February, when the contest between Senators Clinton and Obama began to turn sharply negative.

The media and the Clinton campaign deserve their share of blame for this. And Obama is not perfect, either. But the people who deserve the most blame are the superdelegates, for it is their indecision that has made this mess possible in the first place.

Since late February, it has been clear that the Clinton campaign's only hope for victory rested in their hands. Over the past two months, the sole uncertainty about the campaign has been whether or not superdelegates will stage a coup against the voters.

At any point during the last two months, superdelegates could have made it clear that they would support the will of voters. Instead, by declaring their indecision, they provided Clinton with a new rationale for her campaign. Effectively, they encouraged her coup attempt. It was if they said to her: if you can prove to us that Barack Obama is unelectable, we will overturn the judgment of voters.

Let's face it. If you're a DNC member who is a superdelegate, this is as good as it gets. The candidates and their surrogates are calling. The NY Times and CNN might call. You're in the limelight. And, chances are, you're also afraid of the Clintons.

Well, look at what you have wrought. Nice work. It's easy to forget that from 1994 - 2006, the GOP controlled the House and the Senate. Under the "leadership" of many of the Republicans controlled everything from 2000 - 2006. That's who is enabling the current debacle.