We now find out that the Clintons loaned themselves another $6.4 million and that, according to Stephanopoulos,
"More superdelegates will come out today for Barack Obama –they will come three, four, five at a time, and this nomination will be locked up."
They’re clearly rattled in the same way Jeremiah Wright is rattled. Obama changes the entire dynamic. It is important to Sharpton and Wright that Obama fail. It is just as important for Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele. Sowell’s rants are particularly sad:
"The difference between Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright is that they are addressing different audiences, using different styles adapted to those audiences. It is a difference between upscale demagoguery and ghetto demagoguery, playing the audience for suckers in both cases."
If this isn’t true – and it patently isn’t – Sowell’s entire position comes unraveled. Here’s hoping it does.
Fallows thought that Clinton’s speech was gracious. He adds at the end:
Obviously this counts as gracious only if she follows the logic of the results and leaves the race now, or at least calls off the kind of campaigning that does the Republicans’ work for them.
I didn’t see it myself. There were a few moments when she almost seemed classy … and then they slipped away.
The Senate Majority Leader is underwhelmed by Senator Clinton’s vow to "totally obliterate" another country:
Well, I am certainly doing my best not to take sides in this presidential thing. But I think that flexing our muscles, threatening people, threatening countries, is not the American way. We have — as President Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt said, "speak softly, carry a big stick." Words to that effect. And that’s what I think we should do. Speak softly, make sure that people know that we can react if we have to, but let’s not go around threatening people.
Ironman and Batman quarrel.
"Why not predict? Clinton by 8 in Indiana. Obama by 3 or less in N.C. …" – Mickey Kaus, who predicted that John Kerry would be humiliated by early defeat in the 2004 primary election and that 9/11 would be out of the headlines by Thanksgiving of the same year.
"’Obama by double digits’ in N.C.: Predicted by a blogger using a sophisticated model that ignores … what’s been happening in the campaign. Like Rev. Wright. I predict this person is wrong!" – Mickey Kaus, Monday, who predicted that John Kerry would be humiliated by early defeat in the 2004 primary election and that 9/11 would be out of the headlines by Thanksgiving of the same year.
A reader reminds me of some basic truths:
My good friend, you’re missing the point. You keep waiting, expecting, and predicting that Hillary Clinton is going to give up, throw in the towel, make a concession speech and go back to the Senate. Every time things get worse you make that prediction, and she keeps going. And that is what Bill Clinton really brought to American politics: the total lack of shame, decency, and a sense of the appropriate.How many times was Bill Clinton pinned to the wall over countless misdeeds, and each time–when any normal human being would turn red, mumble an apology, and slink away–he held his chin up high and went forward. Being grilled on 60 Minutes over his countless affairs? Being sued for sexual harrassment? Being caught in a lie in front of the whole world? Nope, no big deal, business as usual, let’s move forward.
Honestly, can you think of ANYTHING that would have caused Bill Clinton to just hang his head in shame and to retire from public life? And if you thought he was bad, there is poll result, delegate count, fundraising statistics, whatever that would cause Hillary Clinton to quit. When this is all over, when Obama or McCain or whomever is elected president, Hillary Clinton will still be standing in front of an almost empty room with a sagging Clinton 2008 banner behind her, still talking in a hoarse but measured voice about legal options and taking her case all the way to the Supreme Court.
I don’t think I can honestly be accused of missing the sociopathic tendencies of the Clintons. But it’s always worth remembering from time to time.
Doug Kmiec reaffirms his support for Obama.
Clinton gets bragging rights for Indiana. But it’s basically a tie. Overall, counting both states, Clinton won 1,273,696 votes; and Obama won 1,528,897. It was a 55 – 45 percent win for Obama in the popular vote. And it’s now basically impossible for her to make a popular vote argument, even with Florida and Michigan. After the last month of unremitting Freak Show attacks, that’s a remarkable show of strength and resilience. Obama’s delegate lead grows. He will have the majority of the popular vote. He has far more money and far more donors. The logic of Clinton’s remaining in the race dwindles to the point of vanishing altogether.
Know hope.
