For Obama, No Time to Stop and Savor Victory

To the victor go the headaches.

There were no champagne toasts for Barack Obama after he clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday night. His wife, Michelle, and a group of friends returned to Chicago on a separate plane. The senator from Illinois spent much of his post-rally time in Minnesota trying to reach Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on the telephone before flying to Washington, where a fresh set of challenges awaited.

He had to deliver a crucial speech to Jewish leaders skeptical of his commitment to Israel. There were troubling signs of disarray within his own party. And there was the small matter of a primary opponent who still had not dropped out of the race.

When his campaign plane hit a patch of heavy turbulence, Obama ignored the pilot's request for passengers to take their seats. Instead, he remained standing in the aisle, conferring with aides about the speech he would deliver the next morning to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Obama was joined at yesterday's AIPAC event by his old friend Rahm Emanuel. The congressman from Chicago and longtime aide to President Bill Clinton had decided to abandon his neutrality before the former first lady removed herself from contention.

But Emanuel would prove the exception among prominent uncommitted Democrats. Most stayed on the sidelines yesterday to give Clinton room to decide her fate.

As Obama moved from event to event in Washington, the Clinton drama shadowed him. After wrapping up his well-received AIPAC speech, he bumped into Clinton in the hallway, and the two took a brief stroll. An Obama aide clocked the exchange: 90 seconds.

Speaking to reporters later on Capitol Hill, Obama was peppered with questions about the senator from New York.

What did he think of her non-concession speech Tuesday night? "I thought Senator Clinton, after a long-fought campaign, was understandably focused on her supporters."

What was the status of their relationship? "I just spoke to her today, and we are going to be having a conversation in the coming weeks."

Although Democrats saluted Obama's win and called for unity, many seemed fixated on not offending Clinton. Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.) endorsed Obama by a news release, which buried the news below a paragraph praising Clinton. Sen. James Webb (Va.), whose name has surfaced on vice presidential lists, said he wasn't quite ready to declare his allegiance. "We're sorting all that out," he told reporters as he hurried into the Senate chamber.

Party leaders issued an early-morning statement that was so vague, it could have been written a month ago. Without acknowledging Obama's delegate victory, it asserted that "Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election." The authors were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Democratic Governors Association Chairman Joe Manchin.