I don't buy the easy assurances and the positive spin about yesterday's contest. This was a bad day for the party. Clinton is not going to go down easy, she is not going to fret about her deficit in pledged delegates, and she will never ever give up the nomination voluntarily.
The superdelegates now have a hard choice.
This is where we are:
Obama’s failure to win Ohio and Texas and lock down the nomination — combined with Clinton’s newly defensible decision to press on despite a deficit in delegates — virtually guarantees Democrats a draining contest that will give Republicans a months-long head-start on the general election.
It will heighten racial, ethnic, gender, and class divisions already on stark display, raise awkward questions about the legitimacy of the nominating process, and inflict potentially lasting wounds on the eventual winner.
And forget about any chance that this looming brawl will be quieted by claims from Obama and commentators that Clinton has no reasonable path to victory.
Yes, Obama’s math is impressive — more delegates, more popular vote support, more states won. But Clinton aides argue reasonably that a race this close can be altered by a virtually limitless number of tactical maneuvers, unexpected events, or shifts in public perception.
For now, Clinton’s victories validated a last-ditch strategy that aides acknowledge rests overwhelmingly on persuading Democrats that the most credible black presidential contender in American history — despite his lead — is too untested to be awarded the nomination.
Simply put, there is now no way Clinton can win without inviting not only disappointment but a powerful sense of grievance among the Democratic party’s most loyal constituency, Obama’s fellow African-Americans.
Bottom line is that the Clintons don't give a shit about the party. But the superdelegates do. They know Obama has the best claim to the nomination, they know he has the numbers, and they know he can unite the party better than she can. It is time for them to start breaking for Obama in big numbers. Once that happens, Clinton has absolutely no claim on the nomination. If Richardson, Gore, and Edwards come out for Obama, it's Hillary vs. the Party. So they should stop twiddling their thumbs.
I would give it a week or two. Let Obama fight a little, regain his composure, rack up more delegates in Mississippi and Wyoming. And then: Ka-Blam!!!