By pulling out the handkerchief, Clinton had to know that she was reaching for a gun with only one bullet. How could she possibly get that emotional again, even if it was genuine, without it hurting her? Either she would be labeled as unable to handle the pressures of the presidency, or her initial fakery would be seen for what it really was.

Furthermore, although she has had a history in the Democratic primary of accusing the old boys network of ganging up on her, she really must have wanted to save that crying jag for the general election. If its a one shot deal, best to use it when it can do the most good. The fact that the damsel in distress card came out early shows that Clintons campaign thought it was in big trouble. So, she went all in. And the rest is history.

Yes, I believe that we came tantalizingly close to a primary campaign without the Clintons. Some have commented that it would be in the eventual Republican nominees favor for Clinton and Obama to have a long, bloody primary battle. Such a spectacle would result in a weakened opponent for the general election. I am sympathetic to that school thought. But it is based on the belief that Obama, the beneficiary of an early Clinton collapse, is unbeatable by the Republican unless significantly weakened by the Democrat. I disagree.

I dont believe that Republicans should be afraid of running against the big bad Obama. The Senator from H.O.P.E.™ is making his campaign on a promise to deliver a different kind of politics. He is selling himself as an agent of change, unique among all of the politicians in the country. But what are his positions? He wants to raise taxes, talk to Americas enemies, expand the role of the Federal government, nationalize healthcare, and so on. In other words, hes just a liberal. Nothing more. That he is not generally recognized as such is a testimony to how little people actually know about him. But in the course of an election campaign, when he is contrasted against a lone Republican, especially a conservative Republican, they will find out.

Its easy to forget, since the primary campaign has been going on for close to a year, that there are still ten months to go until the presidential election. Obama will have to get through all that time without doing anything typical for a politician, and a Democratic one at that. He will have to make policy proposals that will be debated. He will have to react to events. He will have to vote. Every time he takes a position, issues a reaction, or votes in the Senate in the way a standard-issue liberal would, a little more of the bloom will come off the rose. Obama is a teenager in political terms. He thinks he has a fresh answer for everything. But he will find out right along with America that the new politics is not really new. Its just better packaged.

Clinton is the seven-headed hydra of presidential politics. If she can be slain in the Democratic primary, so be it. Bring on the Obama. Republicans should not be afraid.