I usually don't go around quoting David Brooks, but it's a sign of the times that he has been more keenly interested in the Democratic candidates than the Republicans this election cycle, and has offered some sober insights in an often venomous debate over who should be the Democrat's nominee.  Given the relish of some of his colleagues at the Times when it comes to eviscerating one of their own (love and party loyalty make you do crazy things), his outside-looking-in perspective is unusually refreshing right about now (even when he doesn't always quite get it). 

His column today hit the spot. 

Hillary Clinton is a classic commodity provider. She caters to the less-educated, less-pretentious consumer. As Ron Brownstein of The National Journal pointed out on Wednesday, she won the non-college-educated voters by 22 points in California, 32 points in Massachusetts and 54 points in Arkansas. She offers voters no frills, just commodities: tax credits, federal subsidies and scholarships. She’s got good programs at good prices.

Barack Obama is an experience provider. He attracts the educated consumer. In the last Pew Research national survey, he led among people with college degrees by 22 points. Educated people get all emotional when they shop and vote. They want an uplifting experience so they can persuade themselves that they’re not engaging in a grubby self-interested transaction. They fall for all that zero-carbon footprint, locally grown, community-enhancing Third Place hype. They want cultural signifiers that enrich their lives with meaning.

He sees them neck and neck to the bitter end.  I think his conclusion (that "the superdelegates will pick the nominee — the party honchos, the deal-makers, the donors, the machine") is prescient.  And while this state of affairs would seem to favor Clinton (at least the conventional-wisdom version of her) — again, I would not rule Obama out. 

The idea that he's incapable of wheeling and dealing on his own behalf is part and parcel of his appeal to his faithful followers, who often seem to believe that he will usher in the millennium through the sheer force of his goodness. Some acknowledgment on their part that the race for the nomination is not between the forces of darkness and the forces of light would be refreshing, a welcome dose of realism on the part of Obama Nation that might serve their candidate better, and ease their eventual disappointment, not if he loses, but should he win.