Obama entered the stage in Des Moines, Iowa tonight with both his daughters on hand and his wife by his side. They walked on and waved as a First Family would. They are the new symbol of the American family – they are the family that will represent the U.S.
Clinton won by a huge margin in Kentucky but that can’t save her. The polls have yet to close in Oregon but there is no doubt that Oregon is “O” for Obama. Tonight Obama claims the majority of pledged delegates and Clinton has officially been put on notice – time is running out and unless there is some major back room dealing with the DNC rules committee, Obama is the Democratic nominee.
Since May 6 when Obama clobbered Clinton in North Carolina and Clinton squeezed out a small disappointing win in Indiana, the media coverage has turned away from the Clinton machine’s “Count Michigan! Count Florida” message and focused almost entirely on Obama vs. McCain – the presumptive names on the November ballot.
Obama knows he’s the nominee but right now it’s best if he sits tight and lets the Clinton camp figure out a way to exit gracefully. The last thing Obama wants is to do anythingto further draw the party apart and anger Clinton supporters.
“CHANGE IS COMING TO AMERICA!”
Tonight Obama made his victory speech from my old December stomping grounds and his old stumping grounds, Des Moines, Iowa where it all began. Iowa was the first place to give Obama a chance – it was his first win, his first delegates and the first community that got to know him. Obama is also going to be a competitive state in the November election and his mass popularity may be great political capital.
By being in Iowa, Obama is subtly poking holes into that Clinton argument that only she can attract white middle class voters. Iowa is pretty much all white middle class voters and that was a state where she came in third (perhaps because it wasn’t until New Hampshire where she cried).
Obama is not just gearing up for a general election, he’s in it. Clinton is going “toe to toe” with… the DNC? Can you go “toe-to-toe” against someone who is busy going toe-to-toe with someone else?
At this point, it’s time to unite the party and hopefully Clinton will do whatever it takes to make sure that a Democrat will elected and that must mean a nice graceful exit. We’ve waited so long for a graceful exit that another two weeks is nothing. On June 3rd I think we all hope Clinton embraces Obama and we finally once again have a united Democratic Party.
Julia Moss' Political Playground 
“I see dead people.”
That’s about what I thought last night watching the Clinton campaign continue to run in full-on “Sixth Sense” mode, with Clinton and Terry McAuliffe left as the only people in the world who don’t realize her campaign has expired on the table. I guess Clinton is trying to develop an exit strategy, even as she continues to proclaim the race isn’t over — the Democratic nominee, “whoever she may be,” indeed (is there something about Obama I don’t know?). And, just asking, has anyone ever really said, “As Kentucky goes, so goes the nation?” I suppose Clinton can hope the combination of the votes from Florida, Michigan and Puerto Rico (yes, the critical island of Puerto Rico) will put her over the top in the popular vote, which apparently is the REAL indicator of who should emerge as the nominee (delegates, pshaw!).
All kidding aside, though, a couple of negative things I noticed last night: a.) indications that Obama might have to make Clinton his VP selection and b.) indications that some percentage of women believes sexism has derailed Clinton in her bid for the presidency. I think adding Clinton to the ticket is a mistake — one, because it would conflict with his overall theme of change, and two, because she (and Bill) likely would attempt undermine his presidency. A couple of weeks ago, I heard murmurings of putting retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel — yes, a Republican — on the ticket with Obama, and it made me giddy. I advocated that Kerry do something similar with McCain in 2004 (if only he had listened). In terms of the alleged sexism, I think it’s no different than the racism Obama probably faces from some quarters. The real sexism, to me, is voting for Clinton because she is a woman, regardless of whether she is the best candidate.