Superdelegates push for commitment to Iran talks in party platform
As the Democratic primary campaign has veered into distractions over a pastor's diatribes and patriotic displays, more than a dozen superdelegates have started an effort to re-focus the party on vital foreign policy issues.
Supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, along with some still-uncommitted superdelegates, said the Democratic party needs to include in its party platform decisive language in favor of ending the war in Iraq, opening negotiations with Iran and shutting down the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
There is little difference between Clinton's and Obama's approaches to these issues. Obama, however, has been more open about the need to open diplomatic channels with Iran, and he's indicated that he may be willing to speak personally with leaders of the rogue regime. Clinton has said she would open low level talks with Iran, although a few days later she warned the US could "totally obliterate" the country if it used nuclear weapons against Israel.
While the candidates continue to spar, the superdelegates made clear they believe either Obama or Clinton will be able to end the war and correct the course that President Bush has set the country on for the last seven years. The call for unity was a welcome shift from the backbiting and bickering that has plagued the Democratic nominating contest for the last two months.
In a conference call Thursday sponsored by the Win Without War Coalition, some of the superdelegates even broke with their respective camps and praised the other candidate.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) said she supported Clinton because of the former first lady has the "commitment and strength" to withdraw troops from Iraq, but she stressed that the Democratic party has been fortunate to have two excellent candidates this year, both of whom are committed to ending the war.
"Over time," Woolsey said, "I'm gaining confidence that Barack Obama would be able to do the same thing with the experience that he would gain."
Woolsey's confidence contrasts the Clinton camp's efforts to undercut Obama because of his status as a political neophyte. For the last two months, Clinton and her advisers have argued at length that Obama so far has not passed what they're calling "the commander in chief test."
Thursday's conference call coincided with the five year anniversary of President Bush's infamous "mission accomplished" speech, in which he declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." The vast majority of US casualties in Iraq happened since the day of that speech, and the military continues fighting a war that Bush has no intention of extricating the US from.
Rep. Barbara Lee, an Obama supporter, said the timing was appropriate, and she emphasized that there is no difference between the two Democrats' positions on trying to bring the war to an end.
No matter who the nominee is, he or she will "offer a stark contrast to the approach McCain has pledged to continue," Lee said.
Frustrated with Congress's inability to force a change in course in Iraq, the superdelegates -- all of whom are members of Congress -- said the only hope to end the war was electing a Democratic president, either Obama or Clinton.
Sixteen superdelegates are initial sponsors of a Win Without War petition calling for the following language to be included in the party platform:
• An end to the war in Iraq by initiating the safe and secure withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces and private military security contractors, leaving no permanent military bases behind;
• A robust diplomatic surge in the Middle East and beyond, as recommended by the Iraq Study Group, that includes negotiations with the Iranian government; and
• An end to the use of torture and the closure of our prison at Guantánamo Bay.
The initial sponsors hope more superdelegates will sign their petition to ensure a commitment to these issues once the nominee is decided.
Rep. Jim McGovern, another Clinton superdelegate, said skyrocketing gas prices and deficit spending that have been made worse by the Iraq war made necessary immediate action to bring the war to an end. It's time, he said, for the Iraqi government to step up and take control of the country and stop taking advantage of the seemingly endless US presence.
"That is just playing us for chumps," he said.
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