Wow. It's not even 10:00pm and it's already evident that Barack Obama has defeated Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin. It appears he may have done so by a very healthy margin, too. When the networks called Wisconsin for Obama -- his ninth straight victory -- I said to my wife, "Obama's on fire".
He also seems to be becoming more comfortable with his role as the frontrunner given that he began his victory speech even as Hillary was still in the process of giving her concession speech -- a violation of unwritten campaign etiquette. (To be fair, she also violated the unwritten rules by not offering her congratulations to Obama for his win in Wisconsin. In fact, she did not even acknowledge that the primary had occurred).
Anyway, as I switched between the three cable news networks, I stopped as Hillary began speaking in Ohio. My wife, glancing up from her book, put it best: "Hillary looks sleepy". And indeed, she did look tired, and quite frankly, she looked like someone who is about to lose her tenth straight primary or caucus. (She will almost certainly lose the Hawaii Caucus when those results are released later tonight).
The contrast between the two is also telling. When Obama effectively pre-empted Hillary and the networks all switched to his speech, not only was the size of his crowd larger, but the energy level of the crowd was demonstrably higher. My wife then looked up at Obama speaking. "Wow," she said. "He is on fire."
Unfortunately for Hillary, my wife is likely representative of most Americans: she is following the campaign, but perhaps not fully engaged yet. Nights like these are when my wife and millions of others do look up from their books, their computers, or whatever it is they may be doing, and do pay attention. And for those forming opinions based on what they see tonight, Obama looks like a winner and Hillary looks like a loser -- it's just that simple.
This is the impression that people will be left with now for the next two weeks -- two weeks with no primaries or caucuses in which Hillary can even conceivably mount a comeback. There are, however, two debates before the crucial March 4th primaries in Texas and Ohio -- now officially do-or-die contests for Hillary -- and those will be the only real opportunities she will have to shift the dynamics of this race in her favor. If she fails to do so, Obama will beat her on March 4th, and the race for the Democratic Nomination will be over.
If the Clintons have "dirt" on Obama, look for it to come out in the next two weeks. Look for Hillary to be extremely aggressive in the two debates. She has no choice. Things have been headed in this direction for a few weeks now as the momentum has gradually shifted towards Obama, but now it's official: Hillary and her campaign are truly on the ropes, and Barack Obama, without a doubt, is on fire.
she was supposed to speak at 830, he was supposed to speak at 930. she purposely delayed her speech to try to make him look bad when he began his speech at his agreed-on time.
ReplyDeletemore childish gamesmanship from the clintons. there was no reason to keep her on screen, though, when it became evident that yet again there would be no concession to or congratulation for obama.