Kneecapping Your Way to the Nomination

The Barack Obama campaign took its lumps last week, losing the Ohio and Texas primaries (though not the Texas caucus), and then having foreign policy advisor Samantha Power fall on her sword after the "Hillary Clinton is a monster" remark. I still think, however, that the fundamentals of the primary campaign favor Obama, for reasons that Jonathan Chait makes clear:

Clinton's path to the nomination, then, involves the following steps: kneecap an eloquent, inspiring, reform-minded young leader who happens to be the first serious African American presidential candidate (meanwhile cementing her own reputation for Nixonian ruthlessness) and then win a contested convention by persuading party elites to override the results at the polls. The plan may also involve trying to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations, after having explicitly agreed that the results would not count toward delegate totals. Oh, and her campaign has periodically hinted that some of Obama's elected delegates might break off and support her. I don't think she'd be in a position to defeat Hitler's dog in November, let alone a popular war hero.