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July 24, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: On the road again --- and again and again

Richard Z. Chesnoff: Mideast Refugees --- Failure vs. Success

JWisdom:: Word power is about more than vocabulary by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 23, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: The Mufti of Jerusalem's Nazi ideology lives on among contemporary Islamists

The Kosher Gourmet by Joe Gray: Smoked paprika turkey meatballs simmered in red wine and tomato sauce

JWisdom:: 'Routine' doesn't need to mean ‘rote’ By Rabbi David Aaron

July 22, 2008

Yossi Klein Halevi: Dear Barack Obama

Elliot B. Gertel: Eli Stone: Self-indulgent, arrogant corporate attorney as modern-day prophet

JWisdom:: Three Weeks - Nine Days - One Purpose by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

July 21, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Spending your kids' money

Mitch Albom: A grim exchange illustrates a key difference

JWisdom:: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: Hammered on the Anvil --- Severed by the Sickle by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

July 18, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The Sanctification and Importance of Time

Caroline B. Glick: US wants it absolutely clear it has no intention of attacking Iran's nuclear installations

Mona Charen: What can you say about a people who welcome a child murderer as a hero?

JWisdom:: Living a dog's life, dawg? by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 17, 2008

Steven Emerson: Deals with devils

Libby Lazewnik: One Step at a Time

JWisdom:: Leader the follower? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 16, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Poaching humans

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Meaty pasta salad with summer berries perfect for warm evenings

JWisdom:: Keeping A Secret by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

July 15, 2008

Dennis Prager: False Equation: Opposing Same-Sex Marriage and Opposing Interracial Marriage

Joel Greenberg: Researchers look to Israeli circumcision program to help combat AIDS 'Alternatives' to Logic Won't Work

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part V: Why Judaism ISN'T Spiritual by Rabbi David Aaron

July 14, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A warning from Canada to those who value life

Jonathan Tobin: 'Alternatives' to Logic Won't Work

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism, Part II

July 11, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: It's hard to be humble when you're great

Caroline B. Glick: A tale of two hostages

JWisdom:: Profane for Prophet by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 8, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Duty to save gullible from themselves?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Islamists have the West just where they want us

JWisdom:: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 3: The Fully Loaded Human Being by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

JWisdom:: The Moses Method by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 11, 2008 /4 Adar II 5768

Power rightly belongs to Dem superdelegates

By James Klurfeld


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | After last week's primary results, it's clear that the superdelegates will have to decide who the Democratic nominee for president will be. Good.

There's been entirely too much movement toward pure democracy in the Democratic Party. And now the Democrats are paying the price.

Go back to the Founding Fathers - they didn't trust pure democracy. "Democracy" went back to the Greek word "demos," the common people, rule of the mob. The Founders were much more interested in a representative democracy, a republic. They didn't believe it was wise to have each and every decision made by popular vote.

The superdelegates have a specific and important role to play in the nomination of a presidential candidate for the Democrats. And they've been part of the system - written into the party rules - since the early 1980s. They are a group of party officials and supporters, some elected, and other party elites who are expected to add professional (that means political) judgment to a decision about who'll be the party's standard-bearer. There's nothing illegitimate about them or how they vote.

If you read that to mean the superdelegates are a throwback to the old days of smoke-filled backrooms, you've got it right. Before the Democrats implode, they ought to get some backroom politics into their deliberations (just without the smoke, which, we now know, is dangerous to your health).

You can't tell me that the past 25 years or so of party history says the more democratic system has worked that much better than the old system for choosing a worthy candidate.

For good reason, many political scientists have been cool to the concept of proportional voting. It makes it that much more difficult to reach a clear decision, to declare a winner, especially in a pluralistic society. That is exactly what's happening now with Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. They need 2025 delegates to win the nomination, and each is hundreds of votes shy. The proportional allocation of delegates has made it difficult for either of them to gain a clear-cut advantage.

Proportional allocation of delegates is a concept that Jesse Jackson and other liberals pushed on the party in the name of democracy. With a winner-take-all system, Clinton would likely be well ahead now, because she has won more of the big, traditionally Democratic states.

A long, drawn-out and indecisive battle like this, while making for good TV, isn't necessarily good for the country. It forces candidates to take positions to gain votes that later lock them into bad policy options if they are elected.

Example: Clinton and Obama have been tripping over each other to say they are more opposed than the other to the North American Free Trade Agreement. In reality, they both understand the importance of free trade to the U.S. economy. But they've become so obsessed with getting every vote and pandering to the crowd that they have now said they'll be ready to renegotiate the agreement or withdraw from it. If either is elected in November, he or she will be faced with this choice: Pursue an unwise policy by trying to renegotiate the treaty, or don't - and look like a hypocrite.

At some point the superdelegates should make an attempt to throw their weight behind the candidate they believe will be best for the Democratic Party. That means, in the end, who can win in November. That decision doesn't have to be now. It's only March 7, a point in the political calendar that once upon a time marked the beginning of the primary season, not the end.

The superdelegates, even if they have already committed to a candidate, can still change their minds. (The other, elected delegates, by the way, have no legal obligation to vote for a particular candidate, but they did declare a preference in becoming a delegate.)

The whole point of having these 795 superdelegates is to avoid a train wreck for the party. At the moment, Clinton and Obama are two steam engines chugging down the track headed straight for each other.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Comment by clicking here.

James Klurfeld is a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University.


Previously:

03/04/08: A neophyte looks like a pro, and vice versa
02/22/08: The allure of Obama for young people
02/19/08: Obama sounds good, but words aren't enough


© 2008, Newsday Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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