I wonder how often the “I bury Obama’s chances with sadness, not glee” tone found in this Alex Beam column will display itself in the near future…

Meet Barack Obama, the BradleyDeanBabbittTsongas of the 2008 election cycle… Let me repeat: I wouldn’t mind living in a country where Barack Obama is president. Brains; candor; charisma; ambition hitched to a work ethic; I admire those qualities. But frankly, the people who’ve ponied up $4,600 for Obama in this election cycle might as well have piled the money on the kitchen table and set fire to it. Or donated it to the Audubon Society, which has a lot better chance of being in business a year from now than Obama’s presidential campaign. If you listen closely, the silent dog whistle is already blowing for the Obama candidacy, and the tune it is playing is taps… I write this with my head, not my heart. I’ve discussed this column with friends, who point to Obama’s astonishing fund-raising ability, or Hillary Clinton’s purported unelectability as counter-arguments. I reply: Money isn’t everything, and I have stopped believing in Clinton’s unelectability. She’s walked through fire too many times. The setbacks and unspeakable humiliations thrown in her face didn’t kill her, they made her stronger. This time, I fear it is Barack Obama who is going to get burned.

Not quite a rousing endorsement of Hillary, huh? “I’ve stopped believing in her unelectability.”

Sounds like a man who could use the audacity of hope.

UPDATE: A reader notes that of the “BradleyDeanBabbittTsongas” amalgamated comparison, Bill Bradley ran for president, lost in the primary to well-financed bland inside-the-Beltway favorite Al Gore, who then went on to lose to George W. Bush… Howard Dean ran for president, lost in the primary t well-financed bland inside-the-Beltway favorite John Kerry, who then went on to lose to George W. Bush… Bruce Babbitt ran for president, lost in the primary to a well-financed bland inside-the-Beltway favorite Michael Dukakis, who then went on to lose to George H. W. Bush…