Barack Obama is an interesting man. He’s erudite, knows how to talk to people but I don’t trust him. He’s too young, has a quick temper and he’s also too calm. Those two attitudes together are not good. I feel a sense of his feeling a bit above us. It would be a dream team for me if it was Clinton President, Barack Obama Vice President. No one could beat us. Thanks, Janis

i am a democrat. i was initially for hillary because i thought she could win; now i am wavering. i could live with either one. my two opinions are: 1) i don’t like the CLEAR bias in favor of obama and against hillary—yes, he sounds refreshing and she sounds trite; and there is the clinton fatigue; but it shouldn’t be a popularity contest. 2) the states where obama is winning are mostly RED states where the democratic candidate will NEVER win. it doesn’t mean he can’t win, and i may vote for him, but don’t most (all) democrats want to ensure that a Democrat will be in the white house? i do.

The problem is that people will expect the first viable, Black, presidential candidate to be perfect all the time…an impossible task. He is human and will make mistakes and unfortunately these will always be viewed through the prism of race rather than just a human errors. Therefore, every error will be discussed in racial terms. There is no way to overcome this in a nation where in order to get the support of the White population, one has to be a perfect, Black candidate.

Just found your web site and so far I find it very entertaining and informative…..keep up the great work! Us, wee girls, need all the help we can get out here. Love all the subjects and responses. Much more entertaining than “Drudge” but are you lifting your topics from him????

What person has ever had a job of any kind and never made mistakes? Ask any government official, any CEO, any military leader, yet they were put into position to make gigantic decisions. If you stop to think about it, the Presdient of the U.S. has so many people there to assist them in every decision they make. They don’t stand alone. This country needs someone who has new fresh ideas and a new way of looking at things. We’ve already seen what those who have practically grown up in politics has done to our country. They forget every decision they make affects all the people of the U.S. We can’t afford to have things done as they have been in the past. We need someone who cares. We need someone to be there for us. That’s Obama. B. Henry

Unfortunately, I am not terribly impressed by either of the Democrats or Mr. McCain. I have well thought out reasons for my reluctance to support any of them. I am somewhat dismayed by the tendency of some of the contributers to this posting to blame one of the “isms” for the unpopularity of his or her candidate. Give the voters credit for making decisions based on the broad range of their experiences and not on narrowly defined prejudices.

Bella Mia wrote: “I’ve often wondered when I’ve had unprofessional service from a service worker of my race - white - if a black person would have chalked the bad service up to racism. I find bad, poor, disinterested service is endemic, and it happens about 70% of the time to me. How is anyone able to differentiate between racism and generically bad service? I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible to tell the difference.” I have experienced a lot of anti-white racism from (a minority of) Blacks, most of them women. Sometimes it is obvious that it is racism (and sexism - in most cases white men would not have gotten the same treatment). Othertimes I am not sure, so I watch how the same person treats a stranger who is Black. Usually when I suspect it was racism, I see by the difference in their behavior toward Blacks that it was. It is disgusting, but if you react to it, and defend yourself, you will look like a racist, because the public discourse is totally focused on how Blacks are victimized by racism, never about how so many feel free to dish it out (a la Trinity Church). Sometimes I imagine listing all the anti-racism that’s been directed against me, only changing the race, as if it happened to a Black person. In that context, people would be outraged and astonished, at least I hope they would. But society seems to agree as a whole that whites are legitimate targets, are suppose to just take it as an atonement for the actions that they (or their immigrant ancestors) did not participate in or support. I agree with the points made by many posting here that Obama, a man who had to lie about what he did as a Senator because he had nothing real to point to, is where he is in the campaign because he is Black, and a great speaker. Whites want to atone for the imposed feeling of guilt, and being an Obama supporter makes them feel redeemed. Of course this is simplistic take on it, but I do believe it is part of the dynamic. Most Black voters understandably want a Black candidate to win, and this sways them in favor of Obama. Furthermore, Obama gets a free pass because of the guilt based pandering of the white controlled media. There is way too much at stake in every way for such muddled perceptions and responses to a muddled dialogue on race.

Obama will win the Democratic nomination and he’ll win in November. That’s just how it is. He’s new, he’s dynamic, he’s gathering in the country. How many of us see him as a black man anymore? He’s just Barack Obama and he’s a winner.

From my desk in Galway, Ireland: As an American living here and who was raised inside the Beltway, I feel that Obama, who has the werewithal and the savvy to play the Washington game, will unfortunately not be elected because the American people are still prejudiced and have become incredibly depressed and isolated because of their past voting choices. I stay hopeful and applaud all who support him. But remember that movies like “Charlie Wilson’s War” are actually a pretty accurate depiction of politics and people’s ability to stick their heads in the sand.

In my opinion Obama has neither the experience nor the character to make a good president. He has chosen to be “black” rather than bi-racial, and his support of his former pastor is abhorrent. Any decent person would have immediately disavowed not only the opinions expressed by Rev. Wright but have disassociated himself totally from such a person. But Obama has chosen not to do so, and in my opinion this is a major flaw in his character which makes him unfit to be president. I am a supporter of Hilary Clinton. She has the intelligence, competency and ability to handle the job of President, and she has faced many firestorms, and has emerged perhaps not unscathed but definitely stronger in character for the experience. She will make an excellent President. I do not believe Obama has the necessary qualifications to be President. If he becomes the nominee, I believe the Democratic Party will have made a serious error of judgment. Unfortunately, McCain’s unbridled enthusiasm for the War makes it impossible for me to even consider voting for him. So it will come down to a great deal of nose holding if I am forced to choose between Obama and McCain. Horrors!!!