If Barack Obama survives the Democratic nominating convention with poll numbers intact and his reputation unbloodied, it'll be because he beat potentially devastating risks of his own making.
The least of his concerns is the possibility of a drenching rain during his acceptance speech in Denver's 76,000-seat outdoor Invesco Stadium, which he chose over a 21,000-seat indoor arena.
Instead, his chief worry will be two speakers, Hillary and Bill Clinton, whose dismissive disdain for him during the campaign was ugly and acidic, and whose willingness to honestly support Obama is in doubt.
Luckily, Democrat dropout candidate John Edwards was exposed as an adulterous weasel in time to dump him as a speaker. However, Bill Clinton's appearance will surely ignite media comparisons of the Big Dog's sleazy oral sex peccadillo with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office and his "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" cover-up lies with Edwards' affair and lies.
The Clintons are a spiteful pair. Hillary backhanded Obama as not as experienced as she and Republican John McCain. Bill has yet to even concede Obama is prepared to be president. He simply says the Constitution says Obama is entitled to serve.
So what to expect now that Obama has given them the convention rostrum and the attention of world media?
Will Hillary's demand to give her dejected supporters a "catharsis" for their hurt by placing her name in nomination turn into a convention floor fight to embarrass Obama?
Will Bill use his speech to further belittle Obama and begin the Hilary comeback for the 2012 election?
Hillary supporters who devoutly believe she was robbed of the nomination will be jarred by an astonishingly revealing article in The Atlantic magazine detailing the reality of Hillary's erratic, dysfunctional campaign.
Relying on internal e-mails among Hillary staff members as well as interviews, author Joshua Green found a campaign wracked by dissension, an indecisive Hillary, conflicting goals, paranoia, staff upheaval. And this: The campaign even enlisted volunteers to keep an eye on Lewinsky to make sure there were no sneaky Bill sightings with her in far-off places. (What a spectacle this would've made had Hillary become president: Assigning the Secret Service to keep an eye on movements of ex-President Bill and Monica.)
Meanwhile, as Obama perhaps naively believes the Clintons will be of help in his campaign, rival McCain's operation is picking over Hillary's despairing words about Obama in search of themes to use against him.
Some irony. Hillary urging votes for Obama while McCain ads include videos of Hillary calling Obama unprepared to serve.
