A Little Story.

When I was in the third grade we were in 'Social Studies' class, or what I like to call, indoctrinization class. And we were studying about American Politics, i.e. how the President gets elected. I remember the students had to take turns reading the various paragraphs out loud. After all the reading was said and done I raised my hand and said,

"I don't understand this. Can you repeat it?"

The teacher asked, "Michelle, what don't you understand?"

I said," I don't understand how the President gets elected. First we talk about the definition of 'democracy' and then we talk about how the President gets elected. It makes no sense. Can you please explain it again?"

The teacher looked at me confused and robotically re-read the definition of 'democracy'.

So I raised my hand again and asked, "Okay, so if the President does not get elected by getting more votes how is that 'democracy'?"

Needless to say, the teacher NEVER answered my question. But instinctly I remember thinking and feeling like the system was stupid and broken and ..... didn't make any sense to me.

What the idiot should have told me is that we go around the world preaching 'democracy' and supposedly taking 'democracy' to other parts of the world and yet in our OWN country we don't have direct democracy, i.e. popular vote being superiour to the mess and mix up of the delegates and now talk of the super delegates. In conclusion, my brain hurts from having to figure out the ratio of delegates to popular votes and then I think about how Al Gore lost the election and I feel just as confused as when I was in the third grade and the other students wanted to move onto the next chaper overlooking what was to me the most important chapter. And read the email below from Barack Obama and your brain will hurt as well. Maybe the lesson on delegates v. popular votes should have been taught in Algebra class, and not Social Studies class. It would have made more sense as a math and/or logic problem. In my case, however, more like a lack of logic problem, hence the problem.

_________________________________________________

Michelle --
Our projections show the most likely outcome of yesterday's elections will be that Hillary Clinton gained 187 delegates, and we gained 183.

That's a net gain of 4 delegates out of more than 370 delegates available from all the states that voted.

For comparison, that's less than half our net gain of 9 delegates from the District of Columbia alone. It's also less than our net gain of 8 from Nebraska, or 12 from Washington State. And it's considerably less than our net gain of 33 delegates from Georgia.

The task for the Clinton campaign yesterday was clear. In order to have a plausible path to the nomination, they needed to score huge delegate victories and cut into our lead.

They failed.

It's clear, though, that Senator Clinton wants to continue an increasingly desperate, increasingly negative -- and increasingly expensive -- campaign to tear us down.

That's her decision. But it's not stopping John McCain, who clinched the Republican nomination last night, from going on the offensive. He's already made news attacking Barack, and that will only become more frequent in the coming days.

Right now, it's essential for every single supporter of Barack Obama to step up and help fight this two-front battle. In the face of attacks from Hillary Clinton and John McCain, we need to be ready to take them on.

Will you make an online donation of $25 right now?
http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/f6c10d702b7052c7/RjwGhA/VEsH/
The chatter among pundits may have gotten better for the Clinton campaign after last night, but by failing to cut into our lead, the math -- and their chances of winning -- got considerably worse.
Today, we still have a lead of more than 150 delegates, and there are only 611 pledged delegates left to win in the upcoming contests.

By a week from today, we will have competed in Wyoming and Mississippi. Two more states and 45 more delegates will be off the table.

But if Senator Clinton wants to continue this, let's show that we're ready.

Make an online donation of $25 now to show you're willing to fight for this:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/f6c10d702b7052c7/s0Hnub/VEsE/

This nomination process is an opportunity to decide what our party needs to stand for in this election.

We can either take on John McCain with a candidate who's already united Republicans and Independents against us, or we can do it with a campaign that's united Americans from all parties around a common purpose.

We can debate John McCain about who can clean up Washington by nominating a candidate who's taken more money from lobbyists than he has, or we can do it with a campaign that hasn't taken a dime of their money because we've been funded by you.

We can present the American people with a candidate who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with McCain on the worst foreign policy disaster of our generation, and agrees with him that George Bush deserves the benefit of the doubt on Iran, or we can nominate someone who opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning and will not support a march to war with Iran.

John McCain may have a long history of straight talk and independent thinking, but he has made the decision in this campaign to offer four more years of the very same policies that have failed us for the last eight.

We need a Democratic candidate who will present the starkest contrast to those failed policies of the past.

And that candidate is Barack Obama.
Please make a donation of $25 now:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/f6c10d702b7052c7/MUaiQO/VEsF/
Thank you,
David
David PlouffeCampaign Manager

Obama for America