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Democratic race: history in the making
by Michael Goodwin
New York Daily News - May 7, 2008
It's over. Barack Obama now wears the crown of inevitability. Unless he falls off a cliff, or the Rev. Jeremiah Wright pushes him, he is going to be the Democratic nominee.
His blowout victory in North Carolina catapulted him over the last and largest hurdle in his path. As the first African-American to win a major party nomination for the presidency, Obama is about to make history.
It will be his history, but not his alone. It's America's, too.
Hillary Clinton has next to no hope now. Her apparent win in Indiana, if it holds, allows her to continue if she insists, but she shouldn't kid herself - her campaign is on life support.
Her only prayer is that Obama collapses in a heap of scandal. Yesterday was her last real chance to pull an upset, but she underperformed in both states. When she wakes up this morning, the delegate count and the popular vote will be beyond her reach.
All she's left with is an argument that Obama's weak among white working-class voters. So true, and it has to concern party leaders. But Clinton is a flawed messenger for the argument because she's even weaker where it ultimately counts - overall results.
She exposes Obama's problems, but can't solve her own. That's not a case many superdelegates will find compelling.
Even if she had won both states, she would need nearly 80% of the uncommitted supers to back her. Now she needs a miracle. Ain't gonna happen.
What will happen is that the movement of supers toward Obama will grow stronger. If there's a stampede, which is possible, he has an outside chance of claiming a majority of delegates before next week's West Virginia primary.
(...)
www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/05/07/2008-05-07_democratic_race_history_in_the_making.html
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