The headline is inflammatory but, in my opinion, not inaccurate. Barack Obama is trying his best to make sure that Florida and Michigan will not hold re-elections and that they won’t have a seat at the National Democratic Convention. It’s the start of his political career all over again (when he pushed all his opponents off the ticket).

The obstacles to a do-over election to pick Michigan’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention seemed to grow Friday, after Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign officials told the state’s top party official that they wouldn’t accept Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s idea of a party-sponsored primary.

Granholm had suggested a “firehouse primary,” which would allow Democrats to cast their ballots again sometime before June. It would cost about $10 million.

It would be the same procedure Democrats have used in past Michigan presidential caucuses. Polls would be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and any eligible voter who hadn’t voted in the state’s Jan. 15 Republican primary could participate. The voter must be a citizen who turns 18 by the November election and declares himself or herself a Democrat for the day.

Obama’s campaign doesn’t like the idea, said Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer.

“That’s what I’ve been told by his campaign, but it’s not my place to inquire about motivations,” said Brewer, who said he thinks a do-over primary has serious financial and logistical problems.

The good news for Obama? “And we can’t do anything without the agreement of both the campaigns,” he added.

From an opportunistic perspective, Clinton should attack Obama on this for all it’s worth. Not only is it a good ground to attack him on, she will also be right. Obama is purposefully trying to make people’s votes irrelevant. Why? Because he doesn’t stand a chance of winning in either Michigan or Florida. That while the Democrats most surely need these two states in the general election and while, you know, he’s running for the nomination of the Democratic Party.

Which should mean that he’s got some affinity for the Democratic process.

Jerome Armstrong:

Basically, the Obama camp believes that they can control the credentials committee, based on the number of pledged delegates, and lock out MI & FL– they want the status quo to be the deal…

This sorta reminds me of when Brazille and the Gore campaign decided that, instead of doing the right thing and calling for a total state recount of Florida in 2000, they tried to just target the counties they though would push them over the top by recount. You don’t win the moral high ground by denying voters their right to have their vote counted; and you don’t win by trying to play games with the rules to count some votes more than other votes. The Obama campaign seems to have bamboozled themselves into believing that only ‘the math’ that matters is the one that gives them the victory, and really are failing to see the big picture here of how they will lose the nomination to Clinton by trying to deny Florida and Michigan having representation.

Finally, two things:

1. Hillary would indeed probably have done the same thing Obama is doing. We’re not sure about that, we can’t be sure, but it’s reasonable to assume she would. Why? Because both are overly ambitious and ruthless people who care less about the “will of the people” and more about their own careers.

2. No, it’s not a good excuse for Hillary. In the end, this is how the game is played. Crying and whining is useless. In the end, it’s about who wins, not ‘who’s right about this or that.’