Hmm ... well, you can spin Super Tuesday six ways from sundown, but this is the way I see the race so far. Big States first: Florida, NO. New York, New Jersey, NO. California, with the help of all the king's men... NO. REJECTED!!!
"But he won, um, 5-6 caucuses in those Big Square States!" is a wascally weasel, and y'all know it. And Alaska only looks big if you're holding up a globe.
If this was the NFL football season, it would seem at present, Hangover Wednesday, that 'Bama is going to finish up about where Da Bears did. No, I don't know either. Somewhere in the middle of the LOSERS pack. Yes, OF COURSE he got more popular votes than Romulan-ney or Ol' Huckabeedle. Whoopee-do.
With all that AMAZING OPRAH MONEY, what strategic play did the 'Bama-ians choose? Oh -- they narrowly got JOE LIEBERMAN's state. Gosh! But like Lieberman's extended political life, the exception that proves the Rule. (Go, on, click the link for some more 'Bama bruisin' :)
So here's my point of contention. This Tuesday, what with throwing everything against the wall in the last couple weeks, and COMPLETELY SHOUTING DOWN any voices of moderation in the party, including my top-5 Fave poli blogs ... Barack did not seal the deal. He did not demonstrate a surging momentuum. Just a mortal guy after all, with only one well-used shtick that didn't play so well in the Catskills.
In fact, by consistently LOSING one Big State after another -- I guess his Machine turned out the Chicago vote -- he showed that his bag of tricks was, er, shall we say, a little on the light side?
"Jumping the Shark" is the term of art used to describe a peak performance followed by slow, inexorable decline. I don't see BO's path to the 2008 Democratic nomination in any better terms at this point. The stories about the little he's actually gotten done and his sleazy deep-pocketed buds -- specifically his overselling on enviro-nuke and housing issues -- aren't going to go away, and like all scandals over 48 hours old will now metastasize.
The best Obama scenario is to find a way to quickly exit the race, gracefully, and clean up the <cough> issues to look good for the 2016 election cycle. "Eight years in the Senate championing important issues" would work for me -- because it would show there's something more to 'Bama than a good sales package. Remember, there's also a fierce urgency to "LATER, DUDE."