I’m sitting right now next to Alex Steffler, a real devotee of Barack Obama who just said something insightful about many (not all) Obama supporters.
He said that many Obama advocates support “his aura” — not his substance.
David Gergen on CNN stated that there were two frontrunners tonight — Hillary Clinton and John McCain — but neither could put it away tonight.
Gergen continued that Obama really performed well — and that many dynamics may favor Obama as the challenger.
But I wonder if Obama has characteristics similar as that of a quickly rising pop star — and that after tonight, the pop star may be popping.
Clinton advocates seem to scrape on no matter what — cynically aware of the fact that their candidate is not the potentially transformative/high change symbol that Obama is.
But for the Obama team, the failure to sweep the country and perform wildly beyond expectations may be quite deflating to his supporters — many of whom are motivated and inspired by the fumes of mystique and charisma.
Again, this slug fest and contest will continue for quite a while — but to beat McCain/Huckabee, Obama and Clinton need to run together.
— Steve Clemons
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