Momentum

This is the week that Barack Obama seized the mantle of the Presidency on the road to getting elected. Maybe it's not a perfect situation, but it is hard to imagine how he could have better proven his mettle than in how he responded to the news storm about his old church leader.

He won wide and definitive national approval when he boldly spoke for all of us in one way or another in his speech on Monday, which has now been viewed close to three million times on YouTube (2,500,000+ on the main upload, with multitudes of views on other uploads). He ended the week with one of the maybe three most valuable endorsements in the Democratic Party, leaving John Edwards and grandmaster Gore back in the wings.

When you look at this picture, it's hard not to imagine an awesome running team, with the hands-on foreign policy expert Richardson as VP to Obama for Chief Executive.

The Clintons lost big on this one, and I lump them together because of how much Richardson was Bill's project. This was supposed to be the moment when loyalty triumphed:

Mr. Clinton helped elevate Mr. Richardson to the national stage by naming him his energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations. And Mr. Clinton left no doubt that he viewed Mr. Richardson’s support as important to his wife’s campaign: He even flew to New Mexico to watch the Super Bowl with Mr. Richardson as part of the Clintons’ high-profile courtship of him.

But Mr. Richardson stopped returning Mr. Clinton’s calls days ago, Mr. Clinton’s aides said. And as of Friday, Mr. Richardson said, he had yet to pick up the phone to tell Mr. Clinton of his decision.

The reaction of some of Mr. Clinton’s allies suggests that might have been a wise decision. “An act of betrayal,” said James Carville, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton and a friend of Mr. Clinton.

“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week.

Judas Richardson. Nice, James.

In fact, Clinton's Mark Penn publicly downplayed the value of Richardson's endorsement, which the Governor did not let pass lightly:

"I resent the fact that the Clinton people are now saying that my endorsement is too late because I only can help with Texans — with Texas and Hispanics, implying that that's my only value," the New Mexico governor told CNN's John King.

"That's typical of some of his advisers that kind of turned me off."Earlier Friday, Clinton campaign senior strategist Mark Penn said he thought Richardson's endorsement came too late to make an impact.

“The time that he could have been effective has long since passed," Penn told reporters on a conference call. "I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment.”

Look, maybe the graciouslessness of the Clinton campaign will serve her well in the hardscrabble parts of Pennsylvania. But while their big message of the day is that the Obama campaign is "amateur hour," you have to start wondering if Baghdad Bob has taken over as their Press Secretary.

It's the Obama moneyraising juggernaut that appears to have $30 million left to spend on the primaries while hers may have as little as $3 million, which is why he's on the air first in Pennsylvania, defining himself in advance of whatever attack ads she may try to toss his way.

And her "professional" campaign is having "Another Bill Clinton Moment":

MSNBC is reporting that on the campaign trail today in Charlotte, North Carolina, the former president said a general election matchup between his wife, Sen. Clinton, and Sen. John McCain would be between "two people who love this country" without "all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

It's difficult to determine exactly what Clinton meant by this. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said the former president was not implying that Obama didn't love America. As for "this other stuff," that Clinton referred to? He was talking about "the politics of personal destruction," said Wolfson. "He was lamenting that these kind of distractions 'always seems to intrude' on our politics."

Not everyone had the same interpretation. MSNBC, for example, was quick to suggest that the former president was implying there were doubts about Obama's patriotism, and that those doubts would play a role in the general election. Which seems, on its face, hardly a stretch.

The story is starting to be written about how the press has been complicit in keeping the illusion of a virtual tie between the campaigns alive. Well beyond the math now, the logic of her campaign is against her.

Obama is the story. Richardson sealed his week of trials. And regular folks are still meeting him as part of the campaign process:

He was grabbing a photo op and a bite at out local pizza joint "American Dream". It was a friendly audience and Barack proved to be incredibly approachable....

...Then came Obama. Great guy. Energetic, friendly, and smiling. I shook his hand and told him I switched from independent to Democrat so I could vote for him in the Oregon primaries. Then I asked him not to be distracted by the wing-nut types like Hannity and BillO. He smiled. Then I asked him if he really believed he could bring the troops back from Iraq and re-invest that money on domestic issues like energy independence and new technologies. He took on a serious look and said that would be one of the cornerstones of his administration.

He went on kissing babies and eating pizza. I left downtown thinking one thing; I will help this guy get elected.

And tell me that this isn't the best speech you've ever seen from Bill Richardson, a total pleasure:



You have to wonder if that anecdote about Obama saving Richardson's hide when he spaced out on a question in one of the debates wasn't the start of his turn to Obama. So revealing of inner character.

I have a feeling there are some great days ahead. It won't always be easy, it's not a lock yet so there's no resting easy, and there's mortal danger every step of the way.

But something feels like it's building.

It smells like consensus.