Overall, Hillary Clinton’s big night was another Pyrrhic victory. Much like Super Duper Tuesday, when Clinton had big wins in California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts but lost the overall delegate count, Clinton utterly failed last night in her main task…closing the delegate gap. Super Duper Tuesday was played in the press as a great night for Team Clinton, but the reality was that it was a complete disaster that cost her any chance to win a clean victory in the nominating process.
The press coverage last night was remarkably bad, in that it completely ignored THE MATH. But Clinton did succeed in one respect. She raised the specter that Obama cannot take a punch. Democrats do not want another nominee like Michael Dukakis or John Kerry that doesn’t fight back adequately. Clinton will get farther making that argument than she will questioning Obama’s foreign policy judgment or personal ethics. So, that is the test that Obama must pass in the next few weeks.
First things first…Obama must win the Wyoming caucuses on Saturday and the Mississippi primary on Monday. Doing so will both add to his insurmountable delegate lead and stem Clinton’s considerable momentum. If he can accomplish that, he needs to make an effort to get the superdelegates to come forward and throw their weight behind him. It really isn’t up to Clinton whether this race goes on. Seven weeks of campaigning for the Pennsylvania prize will be a total disaster for the party. If Clinton succeeds in destroying Obama’s electability in those seven weeks, she’ll also destroy her relationship with the black community, thus dooming her chances in the general election. The superdelegates exist to prevent things like that from happening. It’s their responsibility to take a hard look at THE MATH and make sure that THE MATH precludes any possibility of Clinton winning the nomination.
If the superdelegates do not do this and they let the Clintons shred the party coalition, then we deserve to lose…and we will lose. It’s up to Obama to fight back and win the next two contests. If he does that, it’s up to the adults to put this nominating process to bed.