Finally the US voting public has awoken to the fact that the Iraq War into which President Bush plunged his unsuspecting people is virtually lost. Even Republicans are breaking ranks and are calling for the withdrawal of troops and the Bush strategy of escalation, euphemestically caslled "surge" will come a cropper. Having said the obvious let me move on to the issue at hand.
Barack Obama made a fine speech at Springfield, standing on the very steps that Lincon had walked 160 years earlier. He touched the right chords and made all the right noises. He put forward a social programme that included education, insurance, health care and immigation reform. All these points will garner him votes. He opposed the War and that will be a huge plus.
Hilary Clinton voted for the War and is now struggling to distance herself from it. She hopes that the politcal savy of her husband will help her, but Clinton though a thinking President carries the baggabe of Monica Lewinsky and she of QWhitewater. Therefore Hilary Clinton may be able to do well in some primaries but in the long run may not win the nomination.
The ticket with a White woman and a Black man is not a winning ticket. One of them has to yield. USA has not prepared itself for such a radical shift from the past. One of them can be palced pn the ticket as Vice President nominee and a more mainstream candidate has to be brought in as the Presidential nominee.
The Right wing will capitalise on the Clinton/ Obama candidature and the resultant polorisation of the votes will cost the Democratic Party its victory. USA is still not ready for the radical break from the past.
Obama certainly has the skills and the educational background to make a good fight, but Hilary has the Party machine behind her and tonnes of maoney. Her warchest is bursting at the seams. Obama is ceratinly charismatic and was able to turn his biggest liability, lack of experience, into an asset.