US media on election's next chapter

"While Senator Barack Obama gingerly commended his rival's 'perseverance', the shrinking candidacy of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton all but vanished from the television set on Tuesday, sidelined by bigger news."

"Barack Obama took a long stride toward history Tuesday, capturing a majority of pledged delegates to the Democratic convention even as he lost Kentucky by a wide margin to Hillary Rodham Clinton."

"The mirror-image results did little to change the direction of the all-important election math that favours Obama. But the tallies underscored the riveting story of the election - an increasingly confident Obama and a resolute Clinton, both forced to fight to the end."

"... Clinton's resounding win in Kentucky gave her justification to keep challenging him through the last contests on 3 June and perhaps raised further doubts about Obama's reach to white working-class voters, a constituency crucial to Democrats' hopes in the fall."

""Change is coming to America," is the line of the night from Obama. His speech is an assemblage of idealism and his biographical grounding in those ideals; a turning of the page to the general election and a challenge to John McCain."

"To the extent the final outcome is in doubt, the race has now come down to a dispute about mathematical computations. Wherever the mathematical calculations fall in the end, Obama made it more crystal clear than ever that his focus is now on running a general election campaign."

"The odds are beyond long, but that doesn't mean Clinton does not feel she has earned the right to end the race on her terms. That's dignity as she defines it. The Obama campaign seems resigned to that. She won't be driven from the race, and she will drive the tone of the rest of it."

"Reflect for a moment on how serendipitous it is that Barack Obama is where he is today. As a 46-year-old half-black presidential candidate who was a newcomer to Washington and a believer in transparency and government reform, Obama's only natural message was one of change. He and his advisers decided not to modulate or moderate that message: every sign at every stop had a single word in bold type: 'Change'. And now that he's got the primary wrapped up, Obama is smart enough not to change."

"Tonight, the general election began."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version