By JOE KLEIN
If nothing else, a presidential campaign tests a candidate’s ability
to think strategically and tactically and to manage a very complex
organization. We have three plausible candidates remaining–Obama,
Clinton and John McCain–and Obama has proved himself the best
executive by far. Both the Clinton and the McCain campaigns have gone
broke at crucial moments. So much for fiscal responsibility. McCain has
been effective only when he runs as a guerrilla; in both 2000 and ’08,
he was hapless at building a coherent campaign apparatus. Clinton’s
sins are different: arrogance and the inability to see past loyalty to
hire the best people for the job and to fire those who prove
inadequate. “If nothing else, we’ve learned that Obama probably has the
ability to put together a smooth-running Administration,” said a
Clinton super-delegate. “That’s pretty important.”Obama still
has a tricky path to the nomination. “We know he can walk on water,”
Democratic stalwart Donna Brazile told me, presciently, a year ago.
“Now he’s got to produce the loaves and fishes.”