The New Politics of Entrapment

Geraldine Ferraro has quit Hillary Clinton’s finance team, but the damage, or the desired effect, is done. How much does a continued racial divide in the Democratic primary contest help Clinton’s argument with superdelegates?

Clinton has Obama in a can’t-win corner now: Respond to any attacks, particularly racial ones, and risk losing the white women, but don’t respond and look like a wimp while you are defined by your rival. This is what a new brand of politics looks like: the deer in the headlights.

The good news for Obama is that Pennsylvania is six weeks away, and the bad news for Obama is that Pennsylvania is six weeks away. He can regroup, but can he beat Clinton at her game?

The most interesting and most important point to consider in all of this is, of course, the opinion of the superdelegates, who will ultimately decide the nomination. What are they thinking? And when will they step in to stop the bleeding? In my column this week I said it should be soon. I don’t think the voters will decide this; I don’t see either Clinton or Obama breaking the other’s coalition. The Democratic Party needs to realize the protracted battle is only a gift to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

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What should the superdelegates do? ASK A.B. returns on Tuesday, March 18. Please join me for my weekly Q & A video posts by sending useful, interesting and entertaining questions to askab@digital-stage.thehill.com.