New speech from Barack

January 8th, 2008 at 11:51pm Chuck Sweeny

A new, more determined Barack Obama emerged Tuesday night. AS he gave what he surely had planned to be a victory speech, he adopted more strongly than in previous speeches the cadence of a black preacher, repeating, “Yes, we can” over and again in responses to challenges he set up.

Smart move, because the next two, critical primaries for Democrats are in Nevada next Tuesday, and in South Carolina the following week.  In Nevada, a powerful constituency is the culinary workers union, and Obama needs its endorsement. With Clinton’s victory, that’s less a sure thing than it was. Also, he must win South Carolina’s black voters, who make up half the Democratic electorate.

This is a real, old fashioned horse race. Although Edwards says he’ll stay in the race I have a hard time figuring out why. And if he gets out, who benefits?  Does he endorse Obama in return for promise of vice-presidency? Edwards went that route before, with John Kerry in 2004. Of course, Kerry ran probably the worst presidential campaign since Mike Dukakis in 1988.

Clinton and Obama both have learned a lot about inevitability in the last week: there’s no such thing in politics. And hopefully Obama has learned that the press loves to hype you one week, and diss you the next.

As the late Zeke Giorgi used to say, “It’s show biz, kid.”

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized