he is going to claim that he has won more than half of pledged delegates, and that no candidate who has won more than half has never not gone on to be the nominee; I guess he will allow the rest of the country to supply the "ergo" to his syllogism.

So even the declaration of victory--the one that's been talked about for the past week or so--will wind up being an implied argument rather than an explicit one.

Obama is going to do what he always does when he's in trouble: distract and shame.  People will think, "Gosh, no one has ever been denied the nomination before in his position and if the Democrats do that they'll surely be racists!"

The "Mission Accomplished" speech could be just the shovel he needs.

He is going to be picketed and booed at with angry voters next week in FL my neighbors are promising me in Miami Beach.

Did he really think we were going to welcome him as a conquering hero?

Even though I've been a Democrat since 1977 I might get angry enough to actually vote for McCain in protest, too.

If he actually does this, it HAS to backfire.

But my problem with Obama from Day One has been his tremendous potential to become another unpopular, intensely disliked President like Jimmy Carter, who will lose his clout to continue to make good things happen, will go down in resounding defeat in 2012, and will prove to be an albatross around the neck of Democrats for many cycles to come.

To me, the question of voting for and supporting Obama is akin to the question of whether it would be right to vote for Jimmy Carter, anticipating the damage he would do to the Democratic brand years hence. From my point of view, the certainty one might have that Obama will prove out as a very destructive President for the Democratic brand is vastly higher than it might ever have been for Jimmy Carter before he was elected.

While I disliked the nature of Obama's appeal very much from the beginning, I hardly expected that it would be demonstrated so concretely and vividly in the Democratic nomination process. The rejection of the Reagan Democrats -- a constituency that will continue to dominate Presidential elections for decades, given their location and numbers -- has been simply stunning.

Obama might manage to ride the now ascendant Democratic brand to the Presidency (we'll see). But his perceived elitism, and the distrust of the man by working class voters, I do not see going away. I can't think of any politician more lacking in the "common touch" than Obama. When the Republican brand starts itself to resurge -- as it will when they are no longer in power, and can do what they do best, throw firebombs at the powers that be -- Obama's inherent faults will be entirely exposed, just as Bush's were when the 9/11 effect finally subsided.

What evidence do we have that he is capable of either? We have plenty of evidence that he is not, or does not care to.  He has displayed arrogance over and over and I, for one, doubt the word humility is in his vocabulary.  He does not seem able to admit mistakes or take responsibility for them. He whines about racism when he loses and has a highly disturbing habit of blaming everyone but himself. (Whom does this characteristic remind you of?)