Despite the media focus on Clinton and the ungraciousness of her speech last night–Did we expect anything else?–Obama should feel no pressure to give in to her demands–at least in the short run. The Clintons want to prove to Obama that politics isn't just about
words, it's about dealing with self-absorbed jerks like them. So that's
certainly something that he has to handle well if he's to move on to
the next stage. I think he'll handle them fine.
It remains to be seen what proportion of the nearly half of Dems who voted for Hillary were voting against Obama. My gut tells me that these are relatively few. But I don't know that. I think most women and most blue collars will get over their disappointment. The Appalachian types won't. If I'm wrong about that, then maybe he has to do more than simply be nice to Hillary. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
But the real issue now is McCain, and I have every confidence that Obama will take it to him forcefully. He will take on McCain in a way that Bush should have been taken on. He is a terribly flawed candidate, and while McCain has a friendly media cohort, he does not not project well on television. His speech last night was so stilted it verged on the comical. Maybe he'll get better. But the bottom line is that he's a fraud, and he knows it. And it shows.
This is an historic moment on so many levels. But it doesn't feel that way for lots of reasons, but mainly because nothing really matters until next November and January. I feel confident that the historical currents are shifting, and I'll keep riding my pet theories until they are proven wrong, but bottom line is anything is possible..
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