It's Over
By Lawrence Kudlow
February 21, 2008
Allow me a dose of hardened market realism concerning Barack Obama's landslide victory in Wisconsin. The race is over. Hillary Clinton is over. Her electability is over.
Bill Clinton's political invincibility is over. The Clinton Restoration is over.
It's over.
Obama got to the far left faster than Hillary did. He out-organized her, out-fundraised her, out-speechified her, out-hustled her, out-dressed her and out-presidentialed her. He outbid Hillary for votes, one promised government check at a time. His 17-point margin of victory in Wisconsin was incredible. It says he can't be stopped.
Outside of the whacko ultra-left Madison college population, which is even worse than the Ohio State population, Wisconsin is a lot like Ohio. And Ohio campuses will go for Obama. Think faculty voters, grimly determined for a left-wing takeover of America "from the bottom up," to use the Saul Alinsky community-organizer phrase. As goes Wisconsin, so goes Ohio.
Not even Hillary's last-minute bashing of business, free trade and free-market capitalism -- which was a complete repudiation of her husband's presidency -- could save her. Obama got there first, with a style and elegance that Hillary simply couldn't match.
And it came out of nowhere. On the eve of the Wisconsin primary, Hillary did a hard-left imitation of John Edwards' populist and demagogic soak-the-rich rhetoric. She trashed some of the greatest businesses in America -- oil, credit-card, insurance and pharmaceutical firms. Wall Street and lending firms. It all must have come as quite a shock to the alumni of the Bill Clinton White House who are working for her campaign.
Robert Rubin may have been too busy tending to Citigroup's subprime collapse to keep Hillary on the reservation. But where were Wall Street's Roger Altman and Washington's Gene Sperling when Hillary discarded the pinstripes for the polyester lefty-union pantsuit?
Bashing business comes naturally to Obama. But for Hillary, it was a complete failure. Exit polls from Wisconsin say the trade protectionists went with Obama. Union members? Obama. People who think the economy is in trouble? Obama. Folks who don't think it's in trouble? Obama. People making less than $50,000 a year? Obama. More than $50,000 a year? Obama.
And it only gets worse.
Voters went with Obama on healthcare by 8 points, on the economy by 16 points and on Iraq by 20 points. Churchgoers and non-churchgoers went with Obama. Most qualified to be commander in chief? Obama. College degree or no college degree? Obama. Democrats, Republicans and independents went with Obama. So did blacks and whites.
White women did, in fact, lean toward Hillary, by a small 52 percent to 47 percent margin. But Hillary only got 31 percent of the male vote, while tying the female vote. White males? They went with Obama by a full 29 points.
Obama won both married men and women, and he tied on unmarried women -- a heretofore Hillary stronghold. Most likely to unite the country? Obama, by almost 30 points. Most interested in improving relations with the rest of the world? Obama, 56 to 40.
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