Roger L. Simon has some thoughts on "Phony Obama" as he "Swift Boats the Swift Boaters":

Now Obama accuses the Clinton crowd of playing "Swift Boat politics."

Baloney. This has nothing to do with the Swift Boat veterans, who, agree with them or not, were completely public in their allegations. Those Vietnam vets, saying quite specifically who they were, even making a film and writing a book about it naming literally dozens of names, accused John Kerry of misrepresenting (to put it mildly) his activities during the Vietnam War. Other than issuing a denial and stamping his feet, Kerry never refuted them formally or, though he promised he would, published his official war record.

This is the opposite of what is going on here, which is a hidden war of innuendo with no specifics mentioned at all, let alone any attribution. But Obama - the supposed "new politician" - is using it to play the oldest of political games, "guilt by association," and, as is usual in these cases, basing it on a phony standard with no facts. He's just preaching to the choir and stamping his feet - like Kerry.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I increasingly find Obama to be like a late night infomercial host - slightly charming, slightly unctuous, factually meaningless. Ready for the Presidency? Don't be silly.

Much like Bill Bradley playing the role of the hapless Washington Generals in 2000 against Gore, Hillary will cruise to the nomination far less on her gubernatorial merits (which are minimal) than how ineffective her opposition has been making the case against her. All of which explains why Tim Russert was so demonized recently--he's been her toughest opponent by far.

Related: Karl Rove, now ensconced in his new Kos-vexing post at Newsweek, explains "How to Beat Hillary (Next) November".