Considering the importance of Richardson's endorsement is beside the point. Here is the bottom line. Barack Obama cannot win if nominated, because he cannot win the "battleground states". He cannot win those states because of his association with the Reverend Wright. He should have realized that he couldn't run for president while being associated with someone with such toxic views. Obama clearly doesn't share those views, but he did attend Wright's church for the past twenty years. This is not a smear. I am simply stating what I perceive the situation to be.

Obama showed incredibly poor judgment in thinking he could finesse his relationship with a "liberation theology" preacher, and an often angry one at that. It demonstrates to me that he cannot carry through on his promises if elected. Nevertheless, he remains my choice, in theory anyway. I have supported his campaign, as in sending money and writing campaign songs that I posted on You Tube.

However, I am a retired math professor, not a blue-collar worker in Ohio or Pennsylvania. As far as I am concerned, we are back to 1972, with Obama playing the role of George McGovern. Except that in 1972, no one could have defeated Nixon, whereas Hillary can defeat McCain, and as I have stated before, better a two-headed president than a wrong-headed one.

So, if we don't want to have McCain as the next president, we have to try to get Hillary Clinton nominated; Bill, warts and all. In my view, that is the reality we have to face.

Greg Bachelis

www.mathpol.com

Democrats lose elections when they behave like Chicken Littles rather than standing up for what they believe in. I remember in 1992 when people were making the same argument that Bill Clinton couldn't be elected. Sure, he had great ideas for governance, but he carried too much personal baggage. What the party needed was a tested, vetted, establishment candidate that the mean old Republicans couldn't beat up on.

No candidate is perfect. John McCain has plenty of flaws. The Republican electorate is not enthusiastic about voting for him. It is a long time until November. The goofy Pastor story will be old and boring by then. You don't win a Presidential election by being inoffensive. You have to motivate passion in the electorate. Hillary Clinton will generate more passion in the Republican electorate than she will among Democrats.

It is obvious that she does have a passionate base of support. They have proven themselves capable of ignoring any kind of unethical behavior from their candidate, so long as it increases her chances for nomination. But she has already lost the election. The only way for her to gain the nomination at this point is by ignoring the will of the voters in the Democratic primary election and convincing the party bosses to throw the election to her in spite of the vote count.

That could happen. If it does, the Democratic Party will find itself in the wilderness for several more years as they try to figure out what it is that they actually stand for. If it is anyone's turn for something in this election, it is the Republican Party's turn to spend time in the wilderness trying to figure out how they allowed themselves to morph into the party that has ruled this nation so miserably for the past seven years.

vast numbers of the press are virulently anti-hillary and just as blindly pro-Obama in their writing and broadcasting biases.

It looks like it is going to come down to a grim fight during the convention and that's anyone's guess as to how it will turn out. As a Hillary Supporter, however, I have finally made up my mind based on countless factors that I shall never again vote for what I consider a second best representative of my party simply because I do not want another republican to win. In comparison to Hillary I consider the 'lying through his teeth while his lips are moving' Obama a third rate choice and as a result I shall now write-in for Hillary even if she concedes defeat.

I do not consider Obama a racist. I consider him a coward for refusing to face down in public his minister decades ago or packing up his family and moving to a more Christian church. I also know that his first choice was to LIE when faced by the press on this issue. So be it. The rest of the Democratic Party can carry on with its gormless and wide-eyed infatuation with all things Obama regardless of the nature of reality and the truth about the man that comes their way and they can continue to allow the besotted members of the mass media do their thinking for them, but I shall not follow the pack over the cliff.

It is a sad day in American politics if we are going to choose our Presidential candidate based on what we think of their Church Pastor. Even more so if we are going to base that judgment on a 30 second video clip posted to youtube.

pea-sized brain? Ooops! Forget I said that. I am trying to train myself not to waste time arguing with fools.

Regarding NightSwimmer's post, the real issue is Obama's judgment. This pastor was invited to attend the rally when Obama announced his candidacy. Then suddenly, Rev. Wright was dis-invited. Why? Obama was aware of a problem and wanted to hide it under the rug. Now it is all coming back to haunt him. He gave a great speech no doubt, but that does not address the fundamental question of judgment. Obama is like any other politician. Long ago no one in the media asked why the pastor was dis-invited.

been trying to get Obamacrats to comprehend for weeks now. Obama is JUST another stinking, lying politician NOT the second coming of Jesus Christ. The man cannot walk on water and he is not going to 'fix' this nation with his goofy smile and pretty voice backed up by ZERO leadership experience.

His supporters are almost universally irrational in their claims for the man and in assuming that because they personally like him this means that he is fit to lead the nation in a time of domestic and international crisis. He is not fit. He has not spent years training for the position and learning from people who have been on the firing line in many different capacities. He entered this race pretty much on a whim and ONLY because he is Black and speaks well and smiles broadly at all times and tells people ANYTHING they want to hear he has somehow become qualified to be president? No he has not.

The problem with all of this is that Obama has effectively won the Democratic nomination. Any scenario that ends with Hillary as the candidate involves pure dreams about an unbroken string of primary blowouts that will not happen and sheer nightmares about superdelegates overriding the votes of citizens that must not happen.

Obama is the Democratic candidate and that's all there is to it.

In the Fall, we have to hope that the Democratic party can overcome the damage Hillary has done by forcing the nation to focus so excruciatingly on our own foot-shooting in Florida and Michigan, and in placing so much power in the hands of superdelegates.

I predict it will boil down to this: A majority of Americans will realize that if they vote for McCain, many more Americans will die in Iraq than if they vote for Obama, and Obama will win -- not overwhelmingly, but comfortably.

And if you ask me "what part of 20 years don't I understand?" I would offer you millions of American lifetime Catholics who understand why you sit in a church that sometimes deeply disturbs you.

And if you ask me "what part of 20 years don't I understand?" I would offer you millions of American lifetime Catholics who understand why you sit in a church that sometimes deeply disturbs you.

Well stated!

- Lifetime Catholic

RM77,

I understand that Obama is a politician. What is your point? that Hillary is not?

Obama isn't my first choice. I supported Joe Biden, but he didn't win. Neither did Hillary. She has lost this election. I know that it is hard to come to terms with that when you have made a great deal of effort to support her.

All that I know about Obama's Pastor is that he made some offensive remarks during a sermon that turned up on youtube and created a media shitstorm. I could infer that these few seconds of video clips represent his entire ministry. I don't think that it would be wise to make that assumption. Besides, his Pastor isn't running for the Presidency.

Media shitstorms tend to have a limited shelf life. It is probably to Obama's advantage that this story came out now, rather than in October. This will be old news by then. It's not the end of the world.

For anyone who claims that Hillary is the better politician, I would only ask you to explain to me why she lost the primary election. If she can't even win among Democrats, how will she beat the Republicans?

"If she can't even win among Democrats, how will she beat the Republicans?"

nightswimmer,

That is the keypoint to this entire discussion. How indeed? When she has less pledged delegates, less popular votes and less states than her competitor, how can she hope to compete? Because we THINK she will do better?

Well said, sir. Clinton supporters hopefully will see the light and back Obama and soon.

This "judgement" angle presupposes that Obama has done something wrong. Whether you knock him for the relationship itself, or the "judgement" of having the relationship (whatever the difference is), the post's point remains the same. This issue is not going to matter much in November.