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Why Hillary's presidential hopes are fading

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The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton is giving off signals that her campaign for President could be nearing an end. It's hard to know if this veil of tears is just Hillary using the crying gambit -- as she did in New Hampshire -- in the pages of her hometown newspaper. But as she acknowledges in the article, running for President is a marathon from which the fittest political athlete emerges victorious.

The Times article helps highlight a critical difference between Clinton and Obama which may explain why Obama is proving himself to be the fitter of the two Democratic candidates. With Clinton, it appears that the voter's job is to help her to realize her ambitions by giving her money or votes. By contrast, Obama presents himself as the vessel for achieving voter's hopes. In short, with Hillary it's about what voters can do for her. And for Obama, it's about what he can do for voters.

The effect of these different approaches is that Clinton appears tired as she struggles to break an 11 state losing streak in the upcoming March 4th primaries. It's as though she needs the voters to give her the strength to keep going and that evidence of insufficient support saps her strength. By contrast, Obama looks like he hasn't really broken a sweat as he goes from victory to victory.

By presenting himself as the vehicle for voter's hopes, Obama captures their energy and projects it towards the future. I feel badly that Clinton's presidential dreams could soon be shattered. But her pain is not enough of a reason to vote for her.

Nevertheless, this race is not over. It's still close and Clinton could still pull out a victory. We'll know the results on March 5th.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He voted for Obama in the Massachusetts primary and declined an invitation to a Clinton fundraiser on Nantucket last summer.

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Last updated: November 25, 2009: 09:54 AM

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