Not to those of us who've been paying attention all along, but to the news media and the pollsters and the voters. Paul Harris:
Obama supporters reject this argument and point to his record of boosting Democratic voter turnout, especially among the young. But sceptics in the party, already nervous about nominating Obama after the furore over outspoken pastor Jeremiah Wright, are growing increasingly concerned. 'There is an element of buyer's remorse in some areas. The question is whether it gets really strong now or in September - or even after the election is over, if he loses,' said Steve Mitchell, head of political consultancy Mitchell Research.
Get this absolutely stunning poll result:
It is that prospect, Clinton supporters say, that leads them to keep fighting. They point to Obama's performance in North Carolina as a bellwether: it was his strong win there earlier this month that dealt an almost fatal blow to Clinton's chances. Yet, two weeks after that win, polls showed Clinton easily outperformed Obama there when measured against McCain. 'Clinton has a very strong argument that she is a stronger candidate against McCain. It is just that it has fallen on deaf ears,' said Mitchell.
A lot of people have been interpreting his problem as "just Appalachia" and chalking it up to racism. I suspect there's something else going on here. Obama based his campaign on his being a transformative black candidate. He was not another Jesse Jackson, selling the politics of resentment. He was Tiger Woods, a guy who happens to be black, but doesn't let color define him.
Now that facade seems to be slipping away. I assume that all of you have seen this video of Father Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest, giving a speech at Obama's Trinity Church last weekend, but if you haven't it's quite stunning:
He reminds me a bit of Anthony Michael Hall pretending to be "black" in Weird Science. While I still don't believe the claim by Larry Johnson that there's a video of Michelle Obama railing against "whitey", certainly that performance makes it seem at least possible.
Obama has resigned from the church, but the horse is already out of the barn.
New and dramatic developments. This is a heads up. I’ll post the news Monday morning by 0900 hours. Now I know why people who have seen the videotape say it is stunning. Barack’s headaches are only starting.
Yellow light all the way on this one. To me, the "Whitey" video seems too good to be true. If you want to believe it's true and you're still not sure, that's a pretty solid sign that it's not.
