Check out this article in Newsweek about Hillary Clinton's plans to run in '08. There is a priceless quote from a Hillary backer about Barack Obama and the groundswell for him to run two years hence:
You know what's coming if he runs: "Obama is like a Grand Marnier soufflé still rising in the oven. It will taste delicious when it's finished, but it's not there yet. A trip to Israel and a trip to Africa are not going to give him foreign-policy credentials," says one Clinton backer unwilling to criticize Obama on the record.
A Grand Marnier soufflé? Was this the same guy who told Kerry to get photographed windsurfing?
Of course, therein lies the problem for Hillary and several other candidates who want to run in '08: these people don't resonate with the public. They can't talk to people. They have no idea how absurd they sound to the average person.
They've been in Washington far too long.
Obama can express himself very well. He's one of maybe two guys (the other is Edwards) whom I have heard make a common-sense case for the Democratic way. The others can't, and they and their minions are now taking potshots.
Of course, Hillary et. al. have other, more substantive problems vs. Obama:
But should Hillary and other experienced candidates jab at Obama's lack of foreign-policy experience, he would quickly reply that he was right and they were wrong on the critical question of going to war in 2003. (Obama was an early and outspoken critic of the war before being elected to the Senate.)
Methinks those who supported the Iraq war are toast in the primaries...with good reason. Obama will therefore be tough to beat.