Let me add my voice to the already huge chorus of those declaring Obama took a beating last night. He got absolutely grilled during the first 40 minutes (when most people were watching) and with every mediocre answer Hillary Clinton was there to hang the issues back around his neck one by one like so many Hawaiian leis.

Clinton did miss one great opportunity last night, and that was when George Stephanopolous pushed her on whether Barack Obama could win the general election against McCain. Clinton, reacting to the pressure, blurted out "yes, yes" when what she should have said is, "I sure hope so." That would have been a killer answer that would have continued to sow doubts about Obama's prospects in November and reinforced her electability argument with the superdelegates.

Another observation: we saw last night just how brutal the Bosnia issue has been for Clinton. Replay the first 45 minutes of the debate last night and imagine what it would have been like without Clinton having to answer on Bosnia.

I generally agree with the recently expressed sentiments that Clinton has run a poor campaign overall, and that her current predicament is a product of faulty assumptions and a fundamental misreading of the political landscape over the last year or more. Nevertheless, with the exception of Bosnia - a big exception, I know - since late February leading into Texas and Ohio she's run a pretty darn good campaign. Some Democrats don't like to hear this, of course, since that's when she started laying the wood to Obama on national security, etc., but Obama's been the one on the defensive for most of the last 5 weeks. But Bosnia clearly knocked Clinton off stride and forced her into an awkward spot, as it did again last night.