A Foregone Conclusion

As of last weekend, Hillary Clinton has lost the race for the Democratic nomination. Or at least, that seems to be the word on the street. The news is that her campaign is a mess; her fund-raising is drying up; Bill is a drag; her hair and her suits are uninspiring; her poll numbers are falling and Obama has won 11 contests in a row!

If you watched the Cleveland debate (or any post-debate coverage -- especially the part where she complains about always getting the first question) I bet you got the feeling that Hillary has just thrown up her hands. Nothing she does seems to have any effect on the perception that Obama is invincible, mainly because that perception isn't based on anything in reality.

These debates are taking place inside the aura of Obama which makes the political differences between the two irrelevant. In the Obama bubble, nobody cares what the candidates say. If Hillary says she's happy to be there with him, it means she's resigned to losing. If she says she disagrees with Obama and finds his approach naive, she's nit-picking or throwing a hissy-fit. Try everything, try nothing, doesn't matter! He's so handsome! And he can slide by, saying nothing substantive, committing to nothing, promising nothing.

In case anyone's interested in actual facts, Obama's winning but only by a narrow 81.5 delegates. There are 370 delegates to be decided in the primaries on March 4th (Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont -- and 566 more delegates after that), so this thing is still up in the air.

But what's blowing in the wind is that Hillary is done and a sore loser to boot. Where did this come from? I have no idea. But what will these people do if Clinton wins on Tuesday?