For the last six weeks, Obama has been relentlessly pilloried in the press. For those six weeks, various Clinton surrogates and media pundits tried to trick us into believing the most important thing about the current race for the Presidency was what Obama’s pastor was saying or had said. All discussions about policies and any candidate’s hopes or dreams for this country were drowned out and pushed aside. In the midst of this onslaught, Obama lost Pennsylvania to Hillary Clinton. He managed to make the result in Pennsylvania closer than many thought it would be, but that fact was lost in the chorus of the media claims that Obama had lost his mojo. Despite all of that, yesterday Obama nearly pulled even in Indiana where he was a decided underdog and in North Carolina, with a massive 14 point victory, Obama emerged triumphant.
History will record May 6, 2008 as the day when Senator Barack Obama sealed the Democratic nomination for President. After Obama’s victory in North Carolina which was the last big state, there is no longer any remotely realistic scenario in which Hillary Clinton can catch him in the delegate count. If we look at the polls for the remaining states, even if we give Hillary results of 5% more in each state than she is currently polling, she would have to win over 85% of the remaining Superdelegates to win the nomination. Even that doesn’t adequately describe the futility of Senator Clinton staying in the race. Since the February 6 Super Tuesday contests, close to 90% of the Superdelegates that have announced support have endorsed Obama. With Obama’s victory in North Carolina, that will probably produce another flood of Superdelegate endorsements.
Obama’s victory speech from Raleigh, North Carolina was impressive and inspiring even for a candidate who is routinely both. Obama talked about how he knows what is coming from the Republicans in the general election contest and never thought that he could prevent what they intend to do. He intends to run a different campaign, some of which we saw during this race for the nomination. As I have said in previous articles, Obama is principled and has strong beliefs but he never alienates people. He may disagree with someone or some group on a given issue, but when he does, he tells them plainly and explains why but it is never done in a dismissive manner. After Obama has done this, people with whom he disagrees will tell you that they are impressed by how honest he is and by his convictions. They may not like that he doesn’t agree with them, but they respect him.
Obama’s comeback is complete and I believe he is the mathematical presumptive Democratic Nominee (1). It no longer serves any purpose for Hillary to continue in the race and for Democrats to continue fighting with each other. All feuding in the Democratic Party should now cease and everyone should unite behind Obama for what will be a spirited general election campaign.
(1) Democratic Underground, (2 handled posters), “We believe that we have a MATHEMATICAL PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5851052
