Clinton faces exit as Obama gains

There are stories this morning in The Guardian, The Independent and two separate articles in The Washington Post which all, in different ways, tell the story of Obama's impending victory over Hillary Clinton in the battle for the Democratic nomination.

The Guardian tells the story of how super delegates are switching to Obama:

Hillary Clinton is starting to lose her overwhelming lead in superdelegates, the Democratic party officials whose votes she is counting on to help her close the gap with Barack Obama. He has received a steady flow of backers in recent days while building a streak of 11 straight primary victories. After once leading Obama by a 2 to 1 ratio in the superdelegate chase, Clinton now has 241 to his 181, according to the latest Associated Press tally.

While The Independent examines Clinton's closing remarks in the Texas debate and reads into them a dignified farewell.

Instead, she ended the debate in conciliatory, almost elegiac mode, reaching out to take Mr Obama's hand and reflecting on how their personal struggles pale next to the battles ordinary people fight every day across the country.

"I am honoured to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honoured," she said to cheers and applause. "And you know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people and that's what this election should be about."

Mrs Clinton's handlers pointed to her concluding speech as proof she was back in contention – her finest moment on the stump since her equally heartfelt, tear-moistened response to a voter on the eve of the New Hampshire primary in early January.

To many pundits and voters, however, it sounded like the first hint of farewell.

The Washington Post's first story is concerned with Obama's fight to win over Hispanic voters in Southern Texas and the second is an article by Colbert I. King entitled, "Truth the Clinton's Can't Handle":

A CBS News poll published Jan. 22, 2007, also revealed substantial support for Clinton among African Americans: She led Obama by 24 percentage points.

She was the Democratic heir apparent to Bill Clinton, the nation's "first black president," as Toni Morrison famously dubbed him.

Name recognition, loyalty to her husband and the belief that she was more electable contributed to Clinton's standing. So did the strong backing of several older generations of black politicians -- or at least that's what the pundits and the old-school Democratic pols thought.

Last year, Hillary Clinton was riding high: The black vote was hers to lose. So what accounts for her sharp reversal of fortune?

Hillary made the mistake of assuming that what was Bill's was hers -- she believed headlines that shouted such things as "Poll: Many Black Voters Don't Identify With Obama."

What's interesting about all four articles is that they are all, in subtle and different ways, obituaries for the presidential ambitions of Hillary Clinton. Now, I have always said that one should never underestimate the ability of the Clinton's in the art of election winning, but there is a definite feeling developing - and being carried all across the media - that we are somehow nearing the end game, and that was the feeling I got when I listened to Hillary's closing remarks in the debate.

The worry for everyone was that Hillary was so determined to win that she would take this battle all the way to a fight over the super delegates, whether Obama was leading in the delegate count or not, and that such a fight would split the Democratic party. However, I detected a tone in her closing remarks which, for the first time, told me that Hillary has realised that most people would find that unacceptable.

"I am honoured to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honoured," she said to cheers and applause. "And you know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people and that's what this election should be about."

There are many left wing sites which have cited this as "something that could resonate" and are seeing in those remarks the shoots of a Clinton recovery. I think that is perhaps wishful thinking.

I think Hillary is signaling to the party that she realises that Texas and Ohio are her last chance saloon, and subtly sending out the message that we shouldn't worry, she is not going to destroy the party by clinging on and fighting long after it becomes clear that Obama is going to be the candidate.

"We're going to be fine."

She's talking about herself and Bill, but she's also talking to the party. By March the 5th, there's every chance that this will be over. And, should she step down with grace, her dignity intact, she will deserve our respect.

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Tags: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Democratic presidential nomination, US election 2008