Obama Seems Worn Down

Hillary seems to be getting a second breath!
by Charlie Leck

This observation is not scientific and it is not documented by any sources. It's right off the top of my big head, which contains a pea-sized brain, and from the bottom of my heart, which some people have called dark and unfeeling, but which, I know, is enormously sentimental. I've endorsed Barack Obama. Oh hell, that's putting it too blandly. I'm a big Obama fan. I fell in love with him when I read his book, The Audacity of Hope, and then turned to his earlier book, Dreams from My Father, and read through that too. The books reveal something encouraging about Obama. He has heart and he has an enormous, open, intellectual mind.

I desperately want him to be the next President of the United States; yet, I know it's a long-shot! Why? Because, according to America's way of defining such things, he is a black man. No mind that his mother was white. He is a black man. No mind that his mother was a PhD of remarkable intelligence. Barack Obama is the son of a black man from Ghana. Never mind that his father was also remarkably bright and creative. All this makes him thoroughly black in America. No offense, my dear black friends, but that is utterly stupid. [Oh Christ, did I just say something politically or racially incorrect?] I don't trust America's attitude about the black man. I think, in the end, they'll turn against him. If I'm incorrect, I'll be the happiest man on earth.

Utterly mind blowing that some black leaders in the country held back support for Obama because they didn't think he was black enough. Now, isn't that a lovely fix to get yourself into, due, of course, to no fault of your own.

Where am I going with this? This is not that into which I wanted to get. I wanted to observe that I am worried about Obama. He seems worn down. Some of his spirit and enthusiasm is gone. The North Carolina and Indiana returns are coming in as I write this. Video clips are showing Obama on the stump and Hillary rumbling wildly through Indiana and North Carolina. She seems fresh and excited, full of vim and vinegar and ready to go another 15 rounds. Obama seems to be hanging on, clinching in order to rest, waiting for the final bell to ring. The struggle over the issue with Pastor Wright took a lot out of him. He knows he has the decision in hand. He only needs to avoid a knockout. He'll win big in North Carolina and he is inching ever so close to the lead in Indiana.

It's not a great way to finish – tired and worn out, I mean; yet, the judges will award him the decision – and it may well be a split decision. (Excuse the boxing metaphors and terminology, but, if you read this blog regularly, you know I was reared on the artful science of pugilism.)

Split decisions always anger the audiences – the rowdy crowds who come to watch the fights – and they don't please the purists either. The Clintons will now put their Michigan/Florida strategy into 5^th gear and that will be very divisive. One wonders if it's possible for the Democrats to carry Florida and Michigan in November. Can they possibly win the White House without those two states?

I'm a bit worried. Obama will win the nomination, but is he ready to get in shape for the real fight – the battle against the bull-headed, mauling, tough-guy, John McCain? I must warn Barack Obama that John McCain will not fight fairly. There WILL be low blows – swiftboat blows. It will be ugly and it will be dirty.

Get in shape Senator Obama. If you think Hillary Clinton was tough, you ain't seen nothin' yet! The Republican machine will be loosed upon you and you'll need to fight while bleeding.