Barack Obama: The Carefulness of Discouragement

Chris Potter describes an Obama conference call:

But although Pennsylvania is the only game in town for the next several weeks, our state barely came up during the nearly half-hour long phone conversation. As he did last week, [campaign manager David] Plouffe downplayed expectations for the race.

Clinton was a "prohibitive favorite" in Pennsylvania, he said, and "should win by a healthy margin." While promising to campaign hard -- "we don't cherrypick states," he said, in one of several swipes at Clinton tactics -- Plouffe noted a recent KDKA poll that showed Clinton up by 19 points.

Also, although we never heard of Al Giordano of The Field, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about:

Simply put: If Obama (and supporters) set expectations for a knockout punch in Pennsylvania, they will be giving oxygen to a gasping Clinton machine on its last breaths. But if they keep Pennsylvania in perspective (no single state has determined the nomination, although New Hampshire, Nevada, and Ohio were all frantically seen and spun as such in their moments), they’ll emerge from the coming Pennsylvania Clinton victory – a kind of Last Hurrah for the politics of the last century – to cross into the 21st century beginning in early May.

"Pennsylvania: The Last Hurrah for the Politics of the Last Century." Lovely -- and it juxtaposes so well with the emerging c/w on Geraldine Ferraro. (Attytood)

The Comet has been mulling over a rousing "Why Obama Will Win Pennsylvania!" blog entry -- simply to go against the grain, take cheap shots at Terry Madonna, and remind everybody of the fact that professional punditry has generally been for crap since Iowa.

However, the idea of "giving oxygen to a gasping Clinton machine" gives us great pause.

Maybe we should just write straightforward posts about why we personally plan on casting a vote for him. Besides, that would be the Barack Obama thing to do.