An endorsement by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, America's most senior Hispanic politician, today gave a a major boost to beleaguered Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Whilst the endorsement would have been infinitely more valuable three weeks ago (before Texas and its sizable Hispanic population went to the polls), Obama will nonetheless be hugely grateful for such a show of support at a time when he is attempting to recover from the fallout from the first major scandal of his political career, caused by the airing on US televsion of racially charged sermons by his pastor, the Rev Jeremiah Wright.
The language used by Richardson in his endorsement speech was significant :“My great affection and admiration for Senator Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and prepare for the tough fight we will have against John McCain in the fall.”
Do the remaining uncommitted superdelegates feel, like Richardson, that it is now in the interests of the party to push Obama across the finishing line as soon as possible and avoid a bitter and brokered convention ? The number of endorsements Obama has received since March 4th (18 compared to just seven for Hillary Clinton) would suggest that they do.
This trend is worrying for Senator Clinton who , as explained in my report last week, needs to win support from at least 60% of the remaining superdelegates to have any realistic chance of securing the nomination. Considering the latest developments from Michigan, where state senators this week failed to agree plans for a do-over of that state's primary (thereby denying Clinton an opportunity to reduce Obama's delegate lead), it could be argued that despite the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the last 17 days have actually seen the nomination slip further away from the New York senator.
A report on The Politico website today claiming that an "important Clinton adviser" had privately estimated Senator Clinton's probability of winning the nomination as "no more than a 10 percent chance" reinforces the sense that it is Clinton, and not Obama, whose campaign could be facing a terminal decline.
Senator Obama may ultimately come to remember this month not for all the discomfort caused by the Rev Wright controversy, but rather as the time when superdelegates and Michigan lawmakers all but ended Hillary Clinton's chances of taking the Democratic nomination away from him. Years from now, sitting in his study and pondering what to write about March 2008 in his memoirs, Obama may even be tempted to use Charles Dickens' famous opening line from A Tale of Two Cities : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
Friday, March 21, 2008
Sí Se Puede : Bill Richardson endorses Obama as nomination begins to slip away from Clinton
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3 comments:
Hey man, I saw your blog on boards and thought I would have a look, I am an Obama supporter so alot of what I say is not quite fair however alot of the friends I have spoken too still support Obama on principle. Interestingly today there are alot of people saying Hillary should quit and let Obama step in.
It's also amazing how the media has not focused on McCain's crazy preacher and just on Obama. I hope Clinton quits so that the democratic party can square itself away and beat the republicans.
I agree that many Dems will now start to think Hillary staying in the race is counterproductive - that's why I highlighted Richardson's exact words which I suspect were chosen carefully "It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and prepare for the tough fight we will have against John McCain in the fall."
Still it is a bizarre situation to ask Hillary to quit now - she has just won TX, won OH by a landslide and I think she'll win PA by 15 - 20%.
I think Obama has a point about the media hounding him on Wright. Sean Hannity on Fox in particular seems to be interested in talking about nothing else and he has gone down in my estimation (Hannity) particularly after he misrepresented the "white oppressor" quote in Michelle Obama's thesis
I never noticed Bill Richardson's words and thanks for pointing that out to me, as for PA, I think she will win it but by 10% at the most however we will have to wait and see. I think asking her to step down makes sense because maybe the party realized the only reason she is doing well is because of that 3am ad, the rev. wright saga and things just going her way. Additionally mabye the DNC also took the previous polls into account with Obama being the best person to draw independants in? Whether he recovers this ability is another story.
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