"The people they are insulting today are the same people Obama needs in November."

[DeepModem Mom]

San Francisco Chronicle: Cool It and Update
Mick LaSalle

....the greatest impediment to Obama's winning in November, should he be nominated, is not anything Clinton might say, and it might not even be the inadequacy of his resume. It's the grandiose, obnoxious self-righteousness of (not all but) so many of his supporters, and their cheerleaders in the press.

I am already at the bag on my head, wear a glove and hold my nose stage at the thought of ever voting for this guy. The idea of voting in a way that makes Keith Olbermann happy, when I picture him getting red-faced and inflating his own outrage -- or voting in a way that Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, Chris Matthews and most people on Air America would like -- is almost too much to get over.

Maybe I'm the only one who minds. (Think so?) But the thing to remember is that the people they are insulting today are the same people that Obama needs in November. Needs badly. And it's a little too much to expect people -- lots of people -- enough to make Obama win -- to pull the lever for Obama, when his campaign has set up a situation where the politically satisfying outcome is at odds with the emotionally satisfying outcome.

That is to say, if you set up a situation where the Clinton supporters have a choice between voting for the guy they agree with (Obama) or voting to see the emotionally satisfying outcome (Obama losing 49 states), it might be too much to expect 100% of the Clinton supporters choosing politics over emotion. People vote like Captain Kirk, not Mr. Spock. Already 28% of Clinton's supporters, according to one poll, say they'd vote for McCain. Those numbers will change. But if Obama is to win, they ALL have to change....

As Russ Feingold said yesterday, it's time for Obama's supporters to "Cool it." Because if anyone is going to make it impossible for Obama to win, they will.

Update: I should have mentioned this earlier. The occasion for the above rumination is that I ran into a woman yesterday who is WAY, WAY more liberal than I am, who voted for Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, etc. who told me that she was thinking of voting for McCain -- or at least sitting this one out -- because she is tired of the self-righteous media pile-on against Hillary and can't stand the media goon squad that swoons over Obama. You think she's the only one? You think she is not a demographic, just a lone eccentric? Go ahead. Make McCain's day.

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