No one can quite decide (the polls favor Obama) whether Clinton or Obama is the tougher opponent for McCain. Contrary to popular wisdom, I think Obama is the weaker candidate in the general election for a number of reasons:

One, there is less chance that Hillary would accept the VP and unify the party (Obama just might accept a VP to get the requisite experience and stature for the next run);

Two, so far his repertoire is limited to the brilliant set “change” speech and repartee in debates, but we have no idea how he will sound when asked for specifics in ex tempore occasions;

Three, his high-profile wife Michelle, being bright, educated, confident, but completely without experience in reacting to criticism or counter-argument, is a loose cannon, and so are some of his staunchest supporters (who wants a Moveon.org (“General Betray Us”) endorsement? or the support of his “black value system” church?);

Four, moderates and independents are surprised that the non-race candidate has been winning overwhelming block racial support. One might have expected Obama, in a race against the liberal wife of the first ‘black’ President to garner 50 percent or 60 percent of the African-American vote, but not 80 percent. That disparity might in itself prompt a like counter-reaction among whites, Latinos, and Asians that legitimizes voters taking into consideration race — as Hillary’s surrogate Gov. Rendell, in perfect Clintonian fashion, has just “suggested.”