I have been silent on this diary site since Hillary Clinton conceded in the race for the nomination. I was in Washington, D.C. when she did so and enthusiastically encouraged her supporters to rally behind Senator Obama. Easier said than done!

I decided to let adequate time to pass for Senator Obama to explain to me why he deserves my vote. He didn't do so during the primary phase - that's one reason I backed Hillary - but I thought the right thing to do as a life long Democrat would be to listen to what he has to say and observe how he could unite the party after an intense race. It seems reasonable that his ability to unite the party is the best indicator of his ability to unite the country as he promises to do.

Sadly, he has talked a good game, but actions speak louder than words. He has done little to show that he is willing to incorporate the policy positions that Hillary Clinton advocated, despite the party being evenly split between the two platforms. He has done little to help retire Hillary Clinton's debt, despite praising the historic nature of her campaign. He did not even consider her as his running, despite stating repeatedly that she would be "on anyone's short list."

Thus, what am I as an ardent Hillary supporter left to conclude? Certainly, my ideas ideologically closer to those of Obama than McCain's. Yet, I also supported Hillary because of the type of leader I believe she is. I am not voting for an ideological platform, but for a leader - first and foremost.

Essentially, my point is that Obama, his allies and his supporters should consider the harm they are causing the Democratic party by diminishing the angst Hillary voters are feeling and brushing aside the risk that many will support McCain in November.

Something about Obama's reaction to Wright last week has recently struck me as odd and disconcerting.

During his praised Philadelphia speech on race, Obama stated, "I can no more disown [Rev. Wright] than I could my white grandmother..." Well, last week it seems that he disowned him.

Does this mean his white grandmother will be next to be thrown under the bus in order for him to pursue his political ambitions?

One of my favorite features of this site is the pollwatchers on the upper corners of the page. I don't think I'm alone in attentively waiting for one of our candidates to hit the 270 mark. Well, it's finally happened.

I think that event is an occasion for all of us to reflect on who really is the more electable candidate!!

Barack Obama just undercut the entire Democratic Party's line of attack for the general election in one fell swoop. In talking about facing voters in this primary cycle and the general election, Obama explained that in electing any of the candidates the policies of the Bush years will be behind us.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/4/20/ 162058/776

Thus, anyone designing ads featuring the McSame line of attack should get back to the drawing board.

I was never fully convinced that tying McCain to the Bush Administration would be the most effective route, but I guess because of Obama I will never find out.

Clinton said she'd seen in the media that "my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter."

"Well, that's not my experience," she continued. "As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves. They're working hard every day for a better future for themseves and their children."

"Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them. They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, and your families," she said, implicitly casting Obama as an elitist.

Enough said!!!
Hillary Rocks

If this doesn't convince the superdelegates that this man is unelectable, I think we have to abolish the superdelegate system for their blatant inability to understand the political realties of our country.

There's no way he can win Missouri, Ohio or Pennsylvania in the general election.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0 408/Obama_on_smalltown_PA_Clinging_relig ion_guns_xenophobia.html

It seems that the sad series of cases where Obama says one thing and does another is far from over. After promising to strengthen the prospect of the federal public financing system, suddenly Obama is having second thoughts.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/ 2008/04/obama-prepares.html

Apparently, since he's rolling in the dough he can through his principles to the wind - how shockingly rare for a person with access to mounds of wealth.

Can we really afford to have the credibility of the Democratic Party take a hit by making this guy our nominee?

Despite the beautiful speech the night of his South Carolina victory where he proclaimed that he "didn't see a black South Carolina or a white South Carolina." Well apparently since times are getting rough in Pennsylvania, his campaign have put on glasses that allow him to see the tint of people's skin color more clearly.

Here's the link:http://www.thetartan.org/2008/4/7/news/o bama

But the pertinent part is as follows:

While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama's event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan's correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, "Get me more white people, we need more white people." To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, "We're moving you, sorry. It's going to look so pretty, though."

"I didn't know they would say, `We need a white person here,' " said attendee and senior psychology major Shayna Watson, who sat in the crowd behind Mrs. Obama. "I understood they would want a show of diversity, but to pick up people and to reseat them, I didn't know it would be so outright."