The Long, Tough Slog To November

The battle for the White House is entering a new phase. There are millions of euphoric Obama supporters however he's got a tough row to hoe to to win support of millions of voters.

The battle between Mr Obama and Mr McCain is now on. It might, conceivably, be civil—Mr McCain has invited Mr Obama to hold joint town-hall meetings with him, where both men answer whatever questions the audience tosses at them. But it will also be heated, and filled with distortions. Mr McCain congratulated his opponent but said he was surprised that such a young man should subscribe to so many bad old ideas, such as that government is the answer to every problem. Mr Obama retorted that Mr McCain offers four more years of President George Bush's economic failures and 100 more years in Iraq. Both were unfair.

Given the war, the economic gloom and the wind at the Democrats' backs, Mr Obama ought to win easily in November. But first he must unite behind him a large portion of those who voted for Mrs Clinton. That will not be easy. Consider the example of Kathy Nicolette, a former teacher who thinks teachers are underpaid and oil firms to blame for petrol prices so high she may have to walk to work. She supported Mrs Clinton. But if Mr Obama is the nominee, she says she will vote for Mr McCain.

Sitting with her dogs by the waterfall for which the city of Sioux Falls is named, Ms Nicolette explains that she rather liked Mr Obama when he first appeared on the scene. She read his autobiography and was impressed. But she has grown to distrust him. His relationship with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, appals her. “I can't imagine how he listened to a guy saying ‘God damn America' for 20 years and only now he distances himself,” she says. Many so-called Reagan Democrats will share her sentiments.

I still don't get how a sound bite from a sermon translates into the thought that every sermon, every Sunday contained the out of context message "God damn America!" What kind of logic is she teaching her students? If this wench wants to walk to work because she can't afford gas to drive and be reduced to eating mayonnaise sandwiches for lunch because she votes for more of the same, she deserves it. If Obama loses because over things of this shallow nature, I'll be saying God damn America my damned self!