The Wright matter was a "judgment" issue that I can understand more, but it still stinks, and I think it will be a major problem for him in the general election. Oddly, the "G-D America" comments do not bother me, except that I recognize how offensive this statement is from a religious man, and I don't think that the kind of hatred Wright showed could have been a rare event. I am more bothered by Wright's comments on the Clinton's.

His judgment in allowing race to define this election was his most egregious error, imo. He could have spoken out against being "the black candidate" early in the game, but he barely gave it lip service and at the same time he campaigned by playing on anti-racist sentiment and the desire of black people to gain political equality by having a black President. Instead of truly "unifying" people, he has been playing both sides against the middle, and that will cost him as he tries to attract moderates who aren't as sympathetic as most progressives. Maybe he didn't have a choice - but I think he did. I think he could have run on simple charisma if he had waited a bit longer. He could have waited to see who would win and set himself up as VP (it would have been a no-brainer) and then run as a "seasoned man of the people" in a few years.

To be honest, I am just trying to give McCain a sympathetic hearing.

But yea, its a big Obama gaffe that is gonna be pretty hard to push away. But who knows, Mr. Once-in-a-lifetime politician can do anything.

vs.

Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Prius-Driving, New York Times-reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show.

But you know I guess it's a question of how easy it is to slip on other people's shoes. For McCain it was easier to slip into small town white people shoes than for Obama.  

I did not see McCain's remarks as excusing their anti immigrant feeling though I can totally see how you would see his talk as excusing the feeling rather than explaining the feeling.

Whatever it was that Obama meant to say, what he DID say is insulting to voters he (we) need to win in the fall.  

I think he probably started to say one thing and ended up saying another...the sentence that ends with "...as a way to explain their frustrations" doesn't make sense fron start to finish.  I think he got several ideas mixed up/conflated in one clumsy sentence (voting against your economic interests, gun control/gun rights, religion, immigration, xenophobia, etc.) trying to explain a rationale he may actually understand but cannot talk about in this way as a candidate...certainly not in the venue he was taped in...the Getty mansion on Millionaires' Row?  Sheesh...and did I hear that audience LAUGHED at his description?

Dear gawd.  Bobby Kennedy must be turning over in his grave and John Edwards knashing his teeth.

Obama folk will brush it off.  I know I have. shrug

The folk that haven't decided?  Are there any undecideds?  I guess there might be a few, but still, I don't think that there are enough to matter.

Hillary will still win PA.  She will still not win by as much as she needed to gain any real momentum.  This will still go to Denver, with both camps trying to destroy any chance that Dems have of wining this election.

And "Bring Them Home Now!"

Who cares what he meant or whether it was true. This was a mistake and with the help of Right Wing Blogs, pro-Hillary Blogs can make this Obama's retirement from politics.

I did think The Fix showed a tape with Obama making the remark a pretty good approach to the displaced working class, but Hillary supporters should hammer away at this and talk about this insult to the people whose jobs and prosperity are never coming back.

And I think Hillary should let loose The Big Dog and see what he can make of it.

don't get me wrong, i wouldn't vote for sen. mccain if he and i were the last two humans remaining on the planet, but there's enough real stuff to blast him with, without having to divine that which is obviously not there.

metoothen, yes, why don't we?

Look, let's be honest.

sen. obama isn't going to get the nomination, he'll be a has been in a month. the wheels have already started falling off that train, the next ten primaries will bring it to a grinding halt, far short of the station.

sen. clinton will beat sen. mccain in the fall, because she will get the votes of the real democrats, not the "dems for a day" (who'll go back to voting republican in the fall) and the young voters, who historically barely register a blip in national elections.

The way to do that is by recognizing that he was absolutely right.  And the people of those small towns, at least all the ones I've been talking to lately, have completely agreed with the sentiment.  And I know a lot of such people, because a large part of my family lives in one of those dead-end towns.  Obama was speaking directly to them, and they agreed with him.  So I'm not seeing the problem.