Among Obama’s states: Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Alabama. His geographic reach is remarkable. His speech – just so glaringly, embarrassingly, surpassingly superior to his opponent’s – has a theme of national unity and an end to identity politics. He actually rebukes voting on the basis of race whereas Clinton championed her role as a woman in politics. That’s the difference. A reference to Washington’s "dramas and distractions." An invocation of the wave of mortgage foreclosures. He praises Clinton by name but then puts the boot in – on lobbyists, Iraq, Iran, torture. And he’s actually making tax hikes for the rich a positive reason to vote for him. No, Senator Clinton, he is not Ronald Reagan. And he is not George W. Bush: "We will make mistakes."
Look: he’s a liberal. I’m not. But I’m not immune to this moment in history and this candidate’s broad appeal. He appeals to the liberal in all of us. And it may be time for such a swing of the pendulum. Frankly, if that’s going to happen, I’d rather have Obama represent that shift than almost anyone else.
If he loses California, the race goes on and he may not ultimately win the nomination. But he will have won this campaign. And he will have won the argument.
