The End of an Era

In watching the election returns for the Potomac Primary last night, I was struck by two things.

First, Obama absolutely SPANKED Clinton in the VA primaries. In looking at the CNN exit polling data Obama simply dominated across all groups. At this point, any niche electability issues or denial of being the front runner are gone.

The MSNBC politico-geek squad have done some great analysis on the delegate situation. Unless Clinton pulls a scorched earth strategy, the VA primary is the first salvo in a national campaign for Obama. Regardless, game over for the Clinton era.

Second, when Senator Clinton was giving her post primary speech in Texas, I was struck at how truly sad she was. Unlike some arguably contrived moments during this campaign, it was clear that she had seen the exit polls and done the math and knew it was over.

For a remarkable woman who has lived worked all her life for this moment, and fought and compromised and made the deals with the devil to get where she is, what a bitter and heart breaking moment. I shared her sadness for the cruel cards fate had dealt her. Against any other candidate from the past 20 years, she would have fulfilled her life purpose and become president.

As sad as I am for Senator Clinton, I am hopeful that the end of the Clinton era and the end of the Bush era will allow Americans of all political stripes to bring closure to the past 20 years of hate filled "anybody but the other guy" politics.