I Hear a Cry of Victory, Another of Defeat

Although it’s been a fact for quite a few weeks, and despite the fact that headlines about the firebrand preacher make for better copy than dull mathematical stories about delegate counts, I think it’s finally time that the media declare something they’ve been loath to do.

Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee for President.

He’s won 55 – 45% of the popular vote in the primaries and caucuses so far, and he has an insurmountable delegate lead. Last night, he demolished Hillary Clinton by a whopping 14 points, and narrowed her lead in Indiana to only a point or two.

The race is mathematically over, and there seems little sense in her continuing what is hourly becoming an ever-more Quixotic quest.

And what of Obama?

They threw everything they had at him. Weather Underground. Jeremiah Wright. Patriotism questions. He seemed to be reeling – the momentum stalled, the agenda being controlled by the Clinton camp. And yet he came out of it relatively unscathed, declaring himself to be an imperfect messenger of an important message. He defeated Clinton last night in the delegate count.

And I think voters respond to that – nobody’s perfect. No, Barack Obama will never get Sean Hannity or the conservative blogosphere behind him. That’s ok, because the wingnuts are increasingly marginalized and shrinking, having so viciously defended a now discredited and disliked President.

Today is the first day of the general election race.