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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Barack Obama missed another chance last night to knock Hillary Clinton out of the race. He beat her in Iowa, she came back and won New Hampshire. He reeled off eleven wins in a row, she came back and won Ohio and Texas. He had another clear shot at her last night and missed. It raises a question that gets more serious with each passing primary.
Why can't he put her away? Despite outspending Clinton more than 2-to-1 in Pennsylvania and waging a more aggressive campaign in the final days, Obama came up short again with many of the voters who form the traditional base of the Democratic Party. Clinton crushed him among white, blue-collar voters by 69 to 30 percent. She also won older voters, women and whites.
The last 6 weeks have tested Obama in a way he hadn't been before. There were the comments from his Pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright which he had to address, his own "bitter" remarks, and a debate performance that wasn't his finest and raised other questions like his ties to William Ayers, the former Weather Underground member.
Obama will get another chance in two weeks to perhaps end this race if he can win in North Carolina and Indiana. And it's worth noting that he continues to lead where it matters – in delegates, states won, popular vote, and he's narrowing the superdelegate gap with Clinton.
But she has succeeded in dragging him onto her playground. Obama got more aggressive and more negative in the closing days in Pennsylvania. And that might have been a mistake. He got where he is on a message of hope and the promise for a new kind of politics.
Here’s my question to you: Why can't Barack Obama close the deal?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Krista from San Diego writes:
Jack, The problem isn’t Barack. He’s a fully capable candidate with a huge grassroots backing. The problem is primarily the large quantity of the American population who can’t get past the fact that he’s half black. I know it’s not what you want to hear, and I’ll be surprised to see if this commentary shows up. But there are still millions of people in this country, mostly older white folk, some not so old, that have ingrained bigotry.
F. from Los Angeles writes:
Jack, This is amusing coming from a media folk. He has already closed the deal. It's just you people in the media that make this race seem closer than it is. I'll bet my life savings (which isn't much, thanks to Bush) that Hillary Clinton will not win. I'll be surprised and impressed if she is re-elected as a New York senator let alone president.
Don from New York writes:
The infatuation is fading a little and people are giving Obama a sober second look. What they are seeing is a charismatic man who says wonderful things, and that is something they have seen before.
Tone from South Carolina writes:
When Hillary was no longer the front-runner, no longer the assumed nominee, the deal was closed. It's like Hillary is jamming her foot in the door to prevent it from being shut in her face. Got to give her credit for putting up the good fight. The question should be: Why hasn't Hillary closed the deal? Most American don't trust Hillary. That's the bottom line.
Steve from Atlanta writes:
Jack, Obama can't close the deal because all of the older women are voting for the Clintons. Every family has a crazy aunt. I just found out that mine thinks Hillary is the best candidate. These women should stay out of politics and go play with their 11 cats.