James Forsyth’s piece argues that there were two disappointments from Tuesday’s primaries — the Clinton machine’s failure to impact the nominating process and change it to Hillary’s advantage and Barack Obama’s loss of shine. Hillary’s subdued victory speech after her Indiana victory told her part of the story (she knows it’s over), but while her moment has passed, Obama’s image has begun to decline, and doubts about him are multiplying at the wrong time.
Clinton and Brown: dreams that died, The Times
Anatole Kaletsky in The Times draws parallels between the misfortunes of Hillary Clinton and Britain’s PM, Gordon Brown. Hillary can at least persist in her political career as senator or vice president. Gordon Brown can only stare at a two-year long “parliamentary humiliation”, which will inevitably end in electoral defeat. Both Brown and Clinton are “quintessential machine politicians” who gain (and suffer) from their own personalities. The lesson to be drawn from the predicament of the two is the need for charismatic new leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. For Kaletsky, that means Barack Obama and a reincarnation of Tony Blair.
Time for Clinton to back Obama, The Australian
Geoff Elliott says that Hillary is “fighting on. But the game is up”. Although Elliott hasn’t liked the Clinton smear campaign, he says there is hope that Hillary will not sink the Democratic boat by making it very difficult for Obama against John McCain. Hillary may say anything she wants to during an election campaign, but she will not turn her back on the party. Her recent comments about working “her heart out” for Obama if he were to be nominated trigger hope.
Blog: Justin Webb’s America, BBC
There is a lot of advice and admonition on Justin Webb’s BBC blog. Webb watches with interest the Clinton camp’s unfolding strategy after Indiana and North Carolina. A graceful acceptance of defeat, and bowing out, might be on the cards. Or Hillary might choose her own time, perhaps after her “next decent win”, which could be West Virginia. But Webb finds nothing graceful about Hillary and has no faith in her making a “decent” vice president. All this, meanwhile, adversely affects Obama and the party’s chances.
