Media roundup: the historic candidate

The collective sigh of relief emanating from the blogosphere was audible last night as the contest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee finally came to an end. Andrew Sullivan was ecstatic and claimed on the Daily Dish that Barack Obama’s victory “came from hope that the future need not be as bleak as it seemed not too long ago. It came from a sense that the deepest divisions were not as deep as the political class needed them to be and wanted them to be. And it came from the astonishing nostrum that a liberal, black first-term senator could overturn the biggest machine, the biggest name and the biggest dynasty in Democratic politics.” Daniel Nasaw writing for Deadline USA (which appears on the Guardian website) even compared Obama’s victory speech to Aeneas speaking to his troops before the founding of Rome.

Thomas B Edsell on the Huffington Post was concerned about the challenges now facing the Democratic nominee. “The next five months will be no cakewalk for Barack Obama… He must deal with substantial weakness of support among working class whites… He faces a Republican machine sure to demonize him as a pacifist… His biography is likely to spur controversy among cultural conservatives… Inevitably arousing charges of elitism, he looks, talks and acts like the product of an exclusive private school and the Ivy League that he is.”

The normally tranquil James Fallows, writing on his blog at the Atlantic was incensed that even in the face of utter defeat Hillary Clinton continued to give false hope to her supporters: “You have lost the nomination. There are no more primaries. And you're urging your supporters to nurse their bitter feelings on your web site, and keep selling their bikes to give you money that you'll spend on... what? This is a new low.”

Meanwhile at The Page Mark Halperin had advice for both candidates. Obama should not underestimate “how sensitive the Clintons are to perceived slights - what Obama sees as gracious and sufficient they sometimes see as condescending and chilly”. Meanwhile Clinton must be mindful of “the amount of criticism she will receive if it does not appear she is doing everything humanly possible to help Obama get elected once the nomination is officially his”.

Dick Morris was on fine form at Real Clear Politics, claiming that Obama should resist the temptation to make Clinton his running mate: “Putting Hillary Clinton on the ticket for vice president creates a menage-a-trois. Bill will be the unexpected roommate.”

Blogs have also been flooded with comments from inconsolable Hillary Clinton supporters, promising to either boycott the November elections, or vote for Republican nominee John McCain. “The DNC does not deserve my vote if they do not nominate Clinton,” wrote one poster on the ABC News election blog. Another was even more explicit: “If Hillary is not the nominee, contribute your time and money and your precious vote to ensure McCain is our next president. Country is more important than party and it is your patriotic duty to defeat Obama.”

LAST UPDATED 6:05 PM, JUNE 4, 2008