Well, duh!
I'm surprised they even admit it. Even more surprising, the far-left Boston Globe is reporting it.
Fifty-six contests. Hundreds of millions of dollars raised and spent. More than 35 million votes cast. And, finally, five months later, one apparent winner.Weaker than people would hope. More like weaker than his media sycophants had hoped. Maybe they realize people are exactly lining up to suck down the snake oil.
Barely.
As the epic Democratic presidential primary battle finally comes to conclusion today with votes in South Dakota and Montana, Senator Barack Obama is trying to round up enough superdelegate endorsements so he can declare victory by reaching the threshold of 2,118 delegates required to seal the nomination. He was 41.5 short as of last night, with 31 at stake in today's contests.
But even as Hillary Clinton sends mixed signals about her willingness to leave the race, Obama, unlike his counterparts in recent presidential cycles, is not exactly sprinting across the finish line.
Over the last three months, the Illinois senator has won six of 14 contests, one less than the seven Clinton has won. (They essentially tied in Texas as she won the primary and he won the caucus.) A loss to Clinton in either primary today would underscore Obama's relatively weak finish and make his narrow victory over the New York senator slimmer.
"Usually there's this I-want-to-be-with-the-winner mentality, and you're not seeing that this time," said David Johnson, a Republican pollster who heads the firm Strategic Vision.
Obama and his supporters contend that victory is victory, and that the nomination contest has always been a race for delegates. But some analysts say his less-than-overwhelming recent showing signals trouble - or at least hurdles - as he begins a general election campaign against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.
"To me it indicates he's weaker than people would hope," said Harwood McClerking, a political scientist at Ohio State University. "I was surprised that he's been regularly losing over the last month-and-a-half when people had given him the election."
Let's face it, the media doesn't want to admit the guy is carrying massive baggage around, despite their quickly glossing over it. Although Obama threw his church under the bus Saturday, that story all but disappeared by Monday morning. Obama knows how to play a compliant media and they dutifully follow marching orders, but his glaring ineptitude and dubious associations are quickly catching up to him.
For all the puffery about hope and change, meaningless slogans aren't enough to propel a one-term novice into the White House when he's facing experienced competition. Obama may have benefited to some extent from Clinton fatigue, but once Hillary is out of the picture, she's still going to have a lot of bitter supporters who never will vote for the guy, especially women.
Moreover, you cannot erase the fact the exit polls in states such as Kentucky and West Virginia clearly showed large numbers of Democrats won't be voting for him. If that's any indication, you can be sure independents won't be giving him big margins either.
The RNC looks as if they're finally ready to get in the game as well. Smart move. Let Obama catch his breath for five minutes, then start pummeling him.
Meanwhile, it's most amusing to see liberal media hacks come to the realization they're a party divided. No kidding. It apparently never occurred to Richard Cohen that a party obsessed with race the past 40 years may have a little bit of a race problem. So much projection, so little introspection.
Welcome to the party, Dick.
Finally, you can never tell what Hillary Clinton might do or say tonight and tomorrow, but maybe in the back of her head she's planning on suspending her presidential campaign until January 21, 2009?
Thanks to PJM for the link.
Glenn Reynolds links. Thanks!
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