Down But Not Out?

Hillary Rodham Clinton's best bet right now is for everyone to conclude that she's a loser.

Stay with me a minute. I haven't totally lost it.

For close to two years, the presidential race has been all about her. She was the front-runner, she was inevitable, she was, above all, a Clinton. Barack Obama was a newcomer, a phenomenon, a rock star, an Oprah-certified inspirational force, but Hillary was the virtual incumbent. The Republicans kept running against her.

When Obama won Iowa, the story was, Hillary loses. When Obama lost New Hampshire, the story was, Hillary's comeback. The plot line has always been whether the Hill and Bill and their unstoppable machine could be denied.

The result was a much harsher level of press scrutiny than anything aimed at Obama--plus all the first-women stuff about her cleavage, her cackle, her wrinkles, her teary moment and, always, her marriage. She has been the focus, some might say the obsessive focus, of the media culture.

But now that Obama has won Louisiana-Nebraska-Washington-Maine-Maryland-Virginia-D.C., the tide is turning. We are at the OMG moment--OMG, he might be president! The television chatter yesterday was all about how Obama matches up against John McCain. For the first time in a Hillary-centric universe, he is becoming the story. One can almost imagine a newsmagazine editor writing the cover line, "Is America Ready for a Black President?"

But race is the least of it. As the pendulum swings, these questions will be seriously weighed for the first time: What would an Obama administration look like? Is he a conventional liberal? Can he deliver on his lofty promises? Can a guy who was a state lawmaker in Springfield, Ill., three years ago really be the next commander in chief?

If the media get serious about posing such questions, Obama will be measured as all front-runners ultimately are, and not just as a Hillary-slayer. And if doubts develop, Clinton would be there as an alternative who is still close in the overall delegate count. In other words, people will be forced to contemplate whether they really want Hillary to lose.

Of course, the former first lady won't be sitting still during this period. She has run a cautious campaign until now. How many more times do we have to hear about "35 years" and "Day One"? She needs to change the dynamic, even as the harsh spotlight settles more firmly on her opponent.

"A day after she lost her status as front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination," says the L.A. Times, "Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped up her attacks on Sen. Barack Obama, challenging her opponent to debate."

Uh, great, but haven't there already been 612 debates? Obama hasn't exactly been ducking.

The New York Times does the math: "Senator Barack Obama emerged from Tuesday's primaries leading Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 100 delegates, a small but significant advantage that Democrats said would be difficult for Mrs. Clinton to make up in the remaining contests in the presidential nomination battle."