Obama needs to knock Hillary out — and quick

murray

"You can say that this is just politics, but the whole point of Obama was that he was going to take us beyond that."
The mystery to me, is how so many otherwise bright people let themselves be taken in by Mr. Obama in the first place. What in his political resume leads one to the conclusion that he was ever anything other than a typical politician-and one far to the left of the American electorate at that?
There has been much written in the last 2 days about American racism, but how do you think Mr. Obama would have fared in this primary if he didn't have the melanin in his pigment that he inherited from his father?

Nuked

Careful Murray! The sentiments in your last paragraph were pretty much expressed by Geraldine Ferraro and she was pilloried for it. Personally, I'm looking forward to the Messiah being creamed by McCain. Bitter, moi?

Ian C

You have hit the nail on the head - " he does not have .. a clinching argument". He opened a debate he could not close - new politics. Noone is interested except the Bush hating media. He is a black in a white constituency. He is as far left a candidate as has stood for the US presidency and the Americans are not that sort of left. He is a college lecturer and voluntary social worker - he has never run anything. He is unelectable and the Clintons know it. If by some miracle he is elected it will be another example of media controlling savviness, per Tony Blair & Alastair Campbell, and will unravel faster than Jimmy Carter.

Tariq

First, Hillary won PA by just over nine percent, not double digits. More importantly, whoever the Democratic nominee is (and it's always foolish to bet against a Clinton), he or she will enjoy smooth sailing between the convention and November, for the election campaign proper will reveal McCain for what he is: an erstwhile maverick handcuffed to Bush's disastrous presidency, and with no idea where to take the country except into Iran.

Mark Musoke

Apart from the obvious how different is he really from Bill Clinton or Tony Blair? These men are great orators who made us all feel warm inside; consumate actors. They have neither depth nor sincerity. Yet thousands of us hypocrites still sing the Silver haired ones's and the Cheshire Cat's praises. It is all political spin, that is very obvious. Had Blair actually "run" anything before 1997? Oh yes, the very "New" Labour....What really matters is the people who are assembled around a figurehead. We have all see the dangers of recruiting strident, zealous, idealists (Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld et al). Strong political leadership benefits from some inexperience; young candidates appear naive. It is this ignorance which breeds originality and sometimes ugly doggedness to challenge received wisdom and the media hegemony. That is what a candidate should really be judged on.

Laura

"The problem for Obama is that most Americans can’t conceive of living in a neighbourhood where there’s a guy who played a role in the bombing of the Pentagon." Problem? What problem?

It's perfect common sense. Would you want to live next door to someone who tried to blow up Sandhurst?

It has been astonishing to see publications such as The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph fielding so many Obama cheerleaders. Some of them are permanent commentators - not just airheads like Venetia Thompson with her Othello comparisons. When did Othello sympathise with someone who undermined his own army.

All we're seeing now is a bunch of very silly people trying to pretend they haven't got egg on their face. What a farce.