clinton sanders.jpg

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton (PennLive file photo).

(Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)

By Bob Quarteroni

"Promises and pie crusts are made to be broken." Jonathan Swift

And this is one of those times when a broken promise would be a good thing -- a very good thing.

Bob Quarteroni (PennLive file)

That's because the future of the presidential election, the nation and the world rests in the hands of the 719 Democratic party super-delegates, who are currently backing Hilary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

If you didn't know, super-delegates are party bigwigs -- all Democratic members of the House, Senate, sitting Democratic governors, etc. -- who are free to chose who they want to vote for and could eventually decide on the nominee, even if that person didn't have the highest number of pledged delegates.

They can change their minds at any time, up until they actually vote for a candidate during the Democratic Convention.

As of this writing, Clinton has a 2,310 to 1,542 lead over Sanders, with 2,238 needed to secure that nomination. Of that tally, Clinton leads 541-43 among super-delegates.

Most of Clinton's super-delegates selected her in that misty past -- last year -- when she was not only the prohibitive favorite, but when it looked like no one was going to even challenge her for the Democratic nomination.

So for them it was a no-brainer which is starting to look literally like that: a no-brain decision.

That's for a host of reasons.

First, Hillary is imploding amidst a rash of bad news -- from her bloated speaking fees to her dubious control over her potential co-president husband to this latest installment in the email saga that won't die.

Second, Sanders often beats presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in head-to-head polls. The Manhattan mogul has pulled even with Clinton in many national canvasses.

And in the all-important California primary on June 7, Sanders and Clinton are in a statistical dead heat.

But most importantly, Sanders, like President Barack Obama eight years ago, has spawned a passion and an eagerness that has energized the Democratic party far more than Clinton's.

And then there's the obvious fact that it just isn't fair: Super-delegates get to trump the voters, and that's not what a democracy is all about.

Sally Kohn, a CNN political commentator, wrote a withering attack on super-delegates, calling them "supremely undemocratic."

She said we all know the quote about democracy the worst form of government except for all the others and added, "Here's another quote: 'Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. 'That one comes from Mussolini, who was a fascist, and, perhaps if he were alive today, would be a super-delegate."

The polls showing Clinton and Trump in a general election deadlock should be enough to scare the bejeezus out of the supers.

And it should be enough for them to realize that a promise made to last year's candidate, one who no longer exists, is a promise just crying out to be broken.

They have the chance to look at where we are today, not yesterday, and after careful and deliberate thought and rumination, hopefully change their vote to Sanders as the last best choice, before it is too late.

Is it too late? Not really.

Last Thursday, Sanders picked up another super-delegate: West Virginia Democratic National Committeewoman Elaine Harris, who said, "The people voted here (and) I felt like the people needed to vote first."

And petitions urging the super-delegates to switch are springing up. Moveon.org has such a petition with more than 200,000 signatures on it.

Granted, there are a lot of ifs here: Sanders almost definitely has to win the California primary June 7 to give him enough momentum going into the convention to convince the super-delegates to back him.

And the super-delegates have to be willing to listen to Sanders' arguments, which have so far fallen on mostly deaf ears.

Why, I don't understand at this point.

Granted, it made sense in that alternate universe when Hillary was all ready to be crowned; but there's a lot of tarnish on that crown now and I don't understand why the super-delegates haven't budged.

Loyalty? I doubt it.

Crowd instinct? You bet. Distaste that an Independent who self-describes himself as a Democratic Socialist doesn't deserve the party's nomination: Absolutely and in spades.

But if they don't want to take a chance on turning the world over to a preening megalomaniac, it would seem wise to consider Sanders as their party's best choice to win the White House.

Tom Gallagher -- a Sanders supporter -- wrote in the Los Angeles Times last Friday that the difficulty of changing the minds of a large number of super-delegates "can hardly be overstated."

But, he said, consider this: "A year ago, who would have seriously believed that a democratic socialist, down 50 points in the polls, could run a national presidential campaign decrying the dominance of government by billionaires, rejecting corporate cash and funding it with millions of donations averaging $27 -- and still be winning primaries in May? Change does happen."

We can only hope.

Bob Quarteroni, a frequent PennLive Opinion contributor, is a former columnist and editor at the Centre Daily Times. He lives in Swoyersville, Pa. Readers may email him at bobqsix@verizon.net.