Obama’s Super Saturday

What a day for Obama, culminating with yet another awesome speech, both inspirational and presidential. If you’re scoring at home — and who isn’t? — here’s the list of (upcoming) primaries and caucuses we examined yesterday:

– Louisiana (2/9): CHECK
– Nebraska (2/9): CHECK
– Washington (2/9): CHECK
– Virgin Islands (2/9): CHECK
– Maine (2/10)
– D.C. (2/12)
– Maryland (2/12)
– Virginia (2/12)

Yes, it was a sweep for Obama on Saturday. He won Washington and Nebraska by greater than 2:1 margins over Clinton, and he won Louisiana by more than 20 points. And he won the Virgin Islands. It wasn’t just a sweep, it was a decisive sweep, with Obama once again, as on Super Tuesday, proving how strong he is all over the country: the Pacific Northwest, the South, the Heartland. He is currently leading in Maine, once thought to be a Clinton stronghold, and he could very well win the next three votes, as well as Wisconsin and Hawaii (2/19). He should also win Mississippi and Wyoming (3/11). Vermont and Rhode Island (3/4) could go for Clinton, depending on what happens between now and then, but Ohio and Texas (3/4) will be tough battles for Obama. Still, with wins today and, hopefully, wins tomorrow and next Tuesday, he would put himself in a position to win on 2/19 and to perform well on 3/4, and then to take his momentum into Pennsylvania (4/22).

I am being optimistic, yes, but, as Obama put it so eloquently in his speech last night, there’s nothing wrong with a little hope.

And he does seem to have the definitive advantage at the moment.

**********

Speaking of his speech, it was brilliant.

Obama presented himself as the frontrunner, as the presumptive nominee, as the leader of a genuinely historic movement, and he did so with admirable magnanimity; he responded to his critics, including those who claim he lacks experience and is too much of an idealist; he stressed his friendship with Clinton and the unity of the Democratic Party; he reached out to Democrats ahead of future votes; he outlined his policy positions on key issues like health care, taxes, and Iraq; he noted that he is the better option against McCain, the more likely to win key battleground states in November; and, simply, he inspired in a way few politicians ever do these days. It was a multi-purpose speech in the middle of a tight campaign, and at times like a general election speech, with the nomination already won, but it was so much more. Indeed, I would say it was at times like a State of the Union address, a visionary one from a great president who knows how to lead and is prepared to do so. It was, at times, genuinely tingle-inducing.

As much as anything else, it is Obama’s capacity for greatness that brought me over to his side, and, in last night’s speech, that capacity was plainly evident.

I have no doubt — and I have doubted him in the past — that he is ready to be president and to guide America through the many challenges that lie ahead.

(Cross-posted from The Reaction.)