Obama Baraks Billary

When Hillary Clinton said she'd found her voice in New Hampshire it was not yet clear that it was coming out of her husband's mouth.

The Clintons must be seriously concerned about the eruption of the hybrid "Billary" into the national lexicon.

It both mocks them and highlights the bifurcated nature of the New York senator's campaign, which undoubtedly revisits a past that - if South Carolina is any indication - the nation has no interest in returning to.

Obama's stunning and overwhelming victory is no less significant because Billary saw it coming some days ago. They worked hard to dull the impact by playing down expectations, but after New Hampshire, that pony won't pull anymore.

You win it, you win it and are glad to do so.

highwayscribery thinks the Clintons understood only too well the danger of cleaving Bill so close to Hillary's breast (sorry), but they were desperate in New Hampshire and are right to wage their battles one at a time.

Obama, nothing if not quick on his feet, may have uttered the line of the campaign when he told Clinton (the senator, not the president), "Well I can't tell who I'm running against."

Now nobody else can either.

the scribe noted in "Palmetto State Stilettos" that, "By linking Ms. Clinton in a clear way to the former president Obama both highlights her husband's inappropriate role as hatchet man and draws into relief the fact that, if she gets back into the White House, he does, too."

Bill may be beloved within his party, but that doesn't mean the rank-and-file necessarily want him back.

If the nebulous "change" every candidate now hawks is what Americans really want, Billary's sell just got that much tougher.

Make no mistake about it, qualifying Obama's victory in the "racially charged" state, and other colloquialisms cooked up to soften its impact won't fly. Remember, South Carolina derailed John McCain' s "Straight Talk Express" eight years ago and is not to be discounted because it is a southern state.

Winning the presidency without carrying a southern state is verily impossible and coming up are Georgia, Alabama, and the rest of Dixie, which share much in kind with South Carolina.

This is not 1968. There are some capable and well-placed black columnists rising to Obama's defense and they are doing so both justifiably and with panache.

South Carolina puts to rest, also, the canard that blacks would not turn out for Obama; something we never bought for a second here at highwayscribery.

John Edwards, meanwhile, hangs in their cobbling an odd coalition together, doing respectably well, and poised to shock should he pull out a state or two somewhere. If that happens he could make this primary season look a lot like that jumble over on the GOP side.

Let's see.

At the very least, he has taken the position Dennis Kucinich has longed for as catalyst of the party's far left wing.

One thing is for certain, the media has pulled back on making assertive predictions, Obama looks a lot stronger than yesterday, and Billary a little shakier.