(CNN) Within a few hours of a picture being posted on the Internet from Ralph Northam's (D) medical school yearbook -- in which a man in blackface and another in the white robes of the Ku Klux Klan appear -- it was clear the Virginia governor's political career was over.

Northam on Friday night confirmed that he was one of the two people in the photo -- he didn't say which one -- and issued an apology. "I cannot change the decisions I made nor can I undo the harm my behavior caused then and today," he said in a statement. "I am committed to continuing that fight."

But on Saturday morning, CNN's Ryan Nobles reported that Northam told a top Virginia Democrat that he wasn't in the photo and that he wouldn't resign. And then, in a statement on Saturday afternoon, Northam again refused to step aside -- and tried to explain.

"I believe now and then that I am not either of the people in this photo," Northam said, adding, however, that he had darkened his face to look like Michael Jackson in a dance contest in 1984 . He blamed insensitive decisions he made on race to "the place and time where I grew up." Reminder: We are talking about 1984, not 1954.

That apology -- and explanation - was designed to buy Northam some time. I get it. But here's the thing: Northam simply cannot survive this politically. There is no political strategy that gets you through something like this. None.

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