Good speech, good man. Not a great speech, not a great man. But this is all a sideshow to the fact that Senator Obama is an illiberal utopian statist. I'll never vote for him, but my choice has nothing to do with his relationship to Rev. Wright or how he spins it.
Not that anyone will listen to me, but, sadly, I believe it was a strategic error to try and get serious at this point in the campaign, regardless of the specific merits or demerits of what he said. Most of the country isn't paying attention to the election and for many of them this controversy will now be the first time they have paid more than a passing thought to Senator Obama. However good a politician Senator Obama may or may not be, he seems to lack the killer instinct you have to have to succeed on this particular field of battle. Though the analogy is a bit strained, Senator Clinton (and her enablers) just succeeded in convincing Senator Obama to fling her into the briar patch. He's going to have a hard time catching her again and even if he does it won't be without pain and loss.
I'm not a 60s radical so I won't be voting for Sen. Obama. I'm not a socialist fellow traveler so I won't be voting for Sen. Clinton. I'm not an economic populist, but I may hold my nose and vote for Sen. McCain. Or I may, for the first time, submit a write-in vote for President.
Posted by: Jon at 05:08 PM