Obama Declares Victory

I watched Obama give the speech of his political life Tuesday night, full of soaring platitudes. He's so good at the speechifying, I shudder to think of McCain (or Hillary) getting within an order of magnitude of his raw talent in the matter.

Maybe it was just pent up frustration, because I'm sure he's been wanting to give that speech ever since Super Tuesday, but unfortunately Hillary kept. On. Winning. Even after it was supposed to be long over. But tonight, with an overwhelming victory in North Carolina (nearly 16 points at this point) and even a chance at winning Indiana (a few points down and closing fast), he finally has the opportunity to give the big general election speech.

Key phrase: "This has been one of the longest campaigns in Democratic primary history." Note the use of the words "has been." As in, it's over now. Where he goes from here is easy, he can simply assume the mantle of the winner. Be gracious in victory, and let the chips fall. Most Democrats, it now seems clear, while they may be nervous about his chances, their hearts really are with him, and they really do not like Hillary. I now expect a full stampede of superdelegates, making this a fait accompli. I do not expect the Democratic leadership to risk outrage in the ranks in order to reinstall Hillary Clinton. He didn't collapse in the face of the Wright scandal. He's not John Kerry (at least in the speech making) and so, he's good enough to be the front man.

For Hillary it's gut check time, but I'll save that for another post.