Without mentioning Mr. Obama by name, Mrs. Clinton and her camp are already asserting that experience will be a key attribute for any successful candidate during difficult times — an argument that her team will no doubt make in a more aggressive way against Mr. Obama if they both jump into the race.

This is wishful thinking on Clinton’s part.

Obama cannot be easily dismissed simply because of his lack of experience and foreign policy acumen for two reasons. Firstly, because he is partially African-American. Secondly, because many Democratic front runners had a similar paucity of foreign policy experience — Howard Dean comes to mind (remember his repeated references to Russia as the Soviet Union during the last presidential primary?).

Look how long the charlatan and race-baiter Al Sharpton lasted in the previous Democratic battle for the Presidency. He remained on stage long after he was due to be shown the door. Why? In order to win elections, the Democrats need nearly 100% of the black vote. Any pressure applied by party insiders for Sharpton’s early exit would have met with howls of indignation from among others, the Congressional Black Caucus.

There are a sufficient number of liberal democratic primary voters who are afflicted with what commentator Shelby Steele calls “liberal white guilt” who would positively pine for a black man to be President —regardless of qualifications or experience.

Additionally, Obama is to the left of Hillary. Her vacillations and re-calibrations of her position on the Iraq War have all been orchestrated with a view to addressing her vulnerability to primary voters who are more ideologically attuned to Obama’ s position on the War (get out now).

The political reality for Clinton is that Obama is going to be quite a thorn in her side — his lack of experience notwithstanding.