Obama Misfires

Sen. Barack Obama's losses to Sen.Hillary Clinton in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island were, in part, because he allowed himself to be defined by his opponent in the final days leading up to Tuesday's primaries and failed to strike back in any meaningful way. The infamous 3 a.m. crisis call ad raised doubts about Obama's ability to assume the mantle of commander-in-chief. The meeting between one of his economic advisers and the Canadians over what he meant or didn't mean on Nafta raised doubts about his truthfulness. And the start of the felony trial of Antoin Rezko, a former Obama fundraiser, and Obama's inability to answer questions about that relationship undermined his authenticity as a politician of a different sort.