In before "Sanders hates the blacks."
Sanders' desire for open primaries is an extremely thinly veiled attempt to disenfranchise black voters. Black voters overwhelmingly register as Democrats. Their are virtually no blacks registered as independents. They would be by far the group to lose the most influence in the process should open primaries become uniform. Who would would have guessed the CBC would be opposed to this?
Nvm.
I think that superdelegates do give a bit too much power to the party machine. I'd propose giving superdelegate votes only to Denocratic presidents (current and former) and incumbent governors, US senators, and US representatives. That would push it down to about 250-300 superdelegates. Perhaps one for the chair of the DNC if that person isn't one of the previously mentioned.
Open primaries are much more debatable. I would keep the current system. I would like for some of the dates to be moved up a bit. Didn't people have to register as Dems six months in advance? That seems rather ridiculous.
As much as it may be bad for candidates like Sanders (and Obama), caucuses need to go. That might be a fair compromise for getting rid of some of the superdelegates.
