Obama used Patrick’s words waaaaaaaaaaayy too soon. Things were already leaning his way, momentum with him, wind behind his sails, etc.
While the going is good he uses arguably one of the best speeches in the last decade (perhaps much longer) rather than waiting for things like this:
John McCain, who declared that he will be the Republican nominee after beating Mike Huckabee in Wisconsin, dismissed Obama’s message as “an eloquent but empty call for change,”
Timing is everything. Using that speech to respond to McCain’s attacks like these, once HRC is out of the picture, would have built his stature and been greeted much better (again, with attribution) than having it wasted when he did.
Please share widely!
But I do agree that the Obama campaign seems to think that the hard part is getting to the nomination.