All but over?!

Hillary Clinton's narrow victory in North Carolina and Indiana may not be enough to save her. She needed a big win to offset Senator Obama's lead and not even the so-called 'superdelegates' may be enough to avoid the inevitable. The trouble is, Clinton will not give up until the bitter end. Think about it, she's been planning this campaign for years and now with only a few months to go until the general election she's going to want to know that she fought tooth and nail - the trouble is, this will mean defeat for the Democratic party overall. I'm not the first to point out that this bitter contest is leaving the McCain team rubbing their hands with glee. At the time of writing it seems as though he is by far and away the frontrunner. His military past gives him a certain amount of credibility - and not to mention his moderate Republican policies which has made many people realise that another GOP President would not be a Bush reincarnation.

That's why liberal America has something to smile about. Whoever wins, the White House will come in from the right. Furthermore, whoever McCain faces it's going to be an interesting contest - with Clinton we of course have the first possiblity of a female President but with the more likely candidate, Obama, we have the possiblity of the first black president - perhaps even more astonishing, especially only 44 years after the end of racial segregation in the deep South. However, I don't think race will be Obama's downfall - his inexperience may be the harbinger of defeat on this occasion. I forget his exact age, but he's in his forties, was elected to the Senate only a few years ago after a stint as a legal eagle and his record cannot compare to either that of Clinton or McCain. A commentator recently said (I think it was Freedland in the Guardian) that if Obama were to be elected, the worldwide anticipation and excitement that this would create would remove the possibility of a successful presidency - quite simply, expectations would be far too high to match outcomes...He's been looking very tired recently too. Whilst he's shrugging off Clinton, McCain is preparing for the contest in November. Expect to see a Republican President in the White House this time next year!