This column isn’t about Barack Obama. Plenty has already been written about him. Certainly, thousands of columnists nationwide have had ample opportunity to discuss his candidacy, and there may be no other topic so thoroughly covered by opinion columnists as that of Barack Obama’s candidacy. His spate of February and March victories has propelled him to frontrunner status, and his fundraising campaign has raised the equivalent of a small Latin American nation’s yearly gross domestic product. But this isn’t another column about the Illinois senator, but rather his rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.

This column isn’t about how Barack Obama refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag correctly, sing the national anthem louder than the guy next to him or wear a flag lapel. That sort of talk is a distraction in the dialogue that needs to be taking place in this nomination battle. I’m certainly not going to mention that Barack Obama may or may not be an Ivy League- educated elitist liberal who hates America. I heard some Republicans saying it, but it certainly isn’t worth repeating here.