Global: Obama Closes the Deal?

They call it a “big step.” That’s what Barack Obama took Tuesday when he won the North Carolina Democratic Primary hands down and was narrowly defeated in Indiana by Senator Hillary Clinton. Obama has widened his lead over Clinton in the Democratic fight for the right to face Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the United State’s November general election.

Obama beat Clinton in North Carolina by 14 percentage points while the New York Senator won in Indiana by 23,000 votes out of 1.25 million votes cast. MSNBC reported that Obama increased his delegate lead by a net of nine in the two states, bringing his total to 1,876 delegates to Clinton's 1,729.

With six contests remaining, political watchers maintain Obama’s lead appears insurmountable, but still short of the 2,025 delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic nomination. The focus will most likely turn to the party’s superdelegates – the nearly 800 Democratic officials and insiders – who will play an important role in choosing the Democratic candidate. After Tuesday’s “thumping,” we should expect to see a lot of superdelegates moving towards Obama, says Mash, a Bangladeshi living near Washington DC, writing in Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying.

KiwiBlog notices the dramatic role race played in voting. Exit polling showed that in North Carolina, White Democrats choose Clinton over Obama 62 to 37 per cent and Independents voted for her 58 to 38pc. Obama took 92pc of the African American vote in North Carolina, an amount he also upheld in Indiana.

In a comment on KiwiBlog, Kiwi in America argues that Tuesday’s clear winner remains John McCain as Democrats are about to endorse an extremely far left candidate with a very thin resume.

For bloggers around the world commenting early on the two primaries, the show for the Democratic race is nearly over. The Kenyan Diaspora Pro-Democracy Movement claims: It’s Over: Obama Closes the Deal. Daryl Wolk from Canada calls on Clinton to immediately drop out of the race. From Australia, Labor View from Broome titles his post “Primaries: Beginning of the End,” and points out Clinton didn’t really earn the tie breaker she claimed. However, he bets she’ll keep fighting. Leigh Verner from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia argues in a comment in the Times in London that Obama should choose Clinton as a running mate because McCain remains vulnerable to a cohesive party.

Other bloggers are already moving forward with some policy and personality issues. Starting with policy, Will at the Arab-American forum KABOBfest points out that the Democratic candidates have softened their tone on U.S. withdraw of Iraq even as popular opinion in the United States and Iraq clearly supports a quick end to the occupation. At Scraps of Moscow, written by an American formally living in Russia, digs deep and wonders how “Russophobic” the three candidates will be.

And now, personality. Jose Reyes from Cuban American Pundits wonders why Obama displays so little emotion. Could it be that he has been hypnotized by someone in power, like a true Manchurian Candidate? Bibliopolit from South Africa speculates how much either Obama or Clinton want to socially reengineer American society and predicts dark days ahead for the United States.

And finally, that funky in-between place between issues and personality. At Cousin Lucy’s Spoon, Savtadotty from Tel Aviv, Israel, asserts the election can be easily broken down by the fact each candidate represents a different century: McCain, the 19th century; Clinton, the 20th century; and, Obama the 21st. Breaking News in Kenya points out this election is about change, and Obama’s victory proves the majority of people are smart enough to understand that.

1 comment

  • William Adams

    The idea that Obama should consider Hillary Clinton for VP is absurd. Hillary and her husband – who tags along – are thoroughly despised by significant numbers of the electorate and even more thoroughly disliked by leaders around the world.

    If she can keep her seat in the Senate let the New Yorkers decide her future. A vain dishonest woman will do less harm in the Senate than as Vice president.

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