Oh boy.

I know I'm an Obama supporter, but jeebus.

How can so many tone deaf people hold elected office in this country?

Here's Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's semi-mea culpa for his remarks to the Pittsburgh editorial board that some whites in his state are too racist to support Barack Obama:

As you may already know, today is the 199th birthday of the last president elected from the state of Illinois and as such I thought it only fitting I took some time to take a look back at that president's life as well as the life of the man who seeks to become the next president from Illinois.

I don't know about you all but I really, really hate the idea of our party's nominee being decided by superdelegates.

Not just because I think it wouldn't favor my candidate preference - Barack Obama - but because I think it would seriously hurt the Democratic nominee's chance of winning in November.

If we let Democratic officials choose our nominee rather than Democratic voters then we are going to be in trouble when it comes to independent and Republican crossover in November.

As an Illinois resident, I understandably fell under the spell of Barack Obama a lot sooner than the rest of the country.

I cast a vote for Barack Obama in the 2004 primary and I cast a vote for Barack Obama in the 2004 general election so even before my state and so many others hold their presidential primaries and caucuses today I will have already cast more votes for Barack Obama than most people.

It is from this vantage point that I look out on this year's Democratic primary and think just how familiar this all seems.

As Yogi Berra might say, "It's deja vu, all over again."

So why are you a Democrat? Me? I'm a Democrat because of the power of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats and speeches like this one.

While I'm sure that may be the case for many Democrats, I'm not sure if that's as usual for most 25-year-old Democrats like me.

While I've been feeling like this for a while -- especially with all the red state endorsements -- it didn't really hit home too much until I watched tonight's debate and then had to call my parents to talk some politics.

Both of these people voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, but despite this, I love them.

My mother will be voting Democrat in 2008 whichever candidate is our nominee, returning back into the Democratic fold after straying during the W. years having voted Democrat for all the elections from McGovern until 2000. She's never fully explained why she strayed as she more likes to listen to my father and I discuss politics than talk about them herself (and oh I tried so hard to get her back in 2004, but Kerry just never clicked with her and the 9/11 threatening rhetoric did affect her psyche). I'm trying to woo her to the Obama side though, but haven't made the sale yet. She thought Bill was great and she likes Hillary. She doesn't dislike Obama but she said she loved them both.

My father, a Republican, has no business supporting Barack Obama but he does and probably will in the general election even as he can't quite explain why.

So Barack Obama was just announced as having won the South Carolina primary going away on MSNBC. Awesome.

But five seconds after Olbermann announces it David Gregory has to chime in we have to see about the numbers about the white vote to see what it means.

WHY?

How ironic that the Democratic Party chose to move up South Carolina's primary and protect it to ensure that a state with a large black electorate would have a say in our party's nominee yet our white media pundits wants to discount all black voters to say only the opinions of whites in that state matter. WTF?

With issues of race in the political campaign intersecting with the 79th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. this week, I couldn't help but flashback to just two years ago today, Jan. 17, 2006, when Sen. Hillary Clinton made a somewhat controversial appearance at a New York event honoring Dr. King where she delivered her so-called "plantation" speech.

Now... disclosure... I am an Obama supporter.

But given I still think she will probably wind up with the nomination as I expect her to win the lion's share of Feb. 5 states I think it's worthwhile to have a discussion of her honest fall electoral chances given the strong reaction to Hillary by many in the African-American community after this latest conflagration (with some booing her at the MLK event in New York a few days ago and African-Americans voting for "uncommitted" rather than her in Michigan in huge numbers) and I got to thinking about what would happen if Hillary gave a similar speech now in front of a similar audience -- truce or no truce. I just can't see it going well at all. Because of that, I have to wonder what the heck is going to happen with Hillary and the bulk of the black vote in the general election, especially if Obama is not her vice presidential pick.

How are you all today? I know things are pretty crazy as the primary wars continue simmering, but despite all that I just wanted to share that I'm feeling pretty fired up because I just got back from casting my vote for Barack Obama to be the Democratic nominee for president.

and the Republican party is in total disarray.

It's not just Democrats who are frustrated with the direction of this country under George W. Bush. Many independents and Republicans are disgusted and disillusioned, too. Maybe they have always voted Republican but this year they're looking for something different or maybe they're true swing voters who go back and forth. People like Jim Webb before he switched to the Democratic party. People like my father, a Reagan-adoring 60-year-old Republican who grew up rural and poor in lily-white Middle America to a father (my dead grandpa) who used the N-word but is still considering voting for Obama, especially if Huckabee is the GOP nominee.

Whatever the case is they are undecided about who to vote for and unhappy with the GOP field so they are out there, like flies, and then they hear Obama speak and he catches 'em.

One thing I found fascinating in watching the TV coverage of last night's Iowa results was how mystified many of the pundits got over the fact that Obama did better than Hillary among young women and single women than Hillary did according to the data of the results out of Iowa.

So apparently the latest concern trolling on the candidacy of Barack Obama stems from the fact that he seems to appeal to some Republicans who voted for Bush.

Oh the horror! The Democrats could choose a demonstrably progressive presidential candidate who the Republican electorate has not already decided they won't vote for! He must be evil and incompetent and anti-progressive if Republicans don't hate him and even find him a little charming and inspiring!

Seriously, folks, I've seen some of this sort of sentiment cropping up on discussion of the election and in some articles so I think it's a worthy point to debate as I simply don't believe that the Hillary hatred that exists in this country is something that will immediately go to Obama and Edwards should she be defeated.

In case you're not aware, former NBA great Magic Johnson joined the Clintons on the stump in Iowa as he did in South Carolina yesterday to help them make their "inexperienced" case when it comes to Barack Obama.

Sounds outrageous right?

Well that was what I thought until I read a report of Bill Clinton's statements tonight in South Carolina that his wife's "number one priority" includes plans to employ George H.W. Bush in implementing her administration's foreign policy.

This is CHANGE?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...

Just as an FYI for everyone, Carolyn Washburn is on C-SPAN now talking about the Des Moines Register endorsement.

(and I just realized some folks might not recognize Washburn's name so thought I'd update this diary's title)

Am I the only one who thinks the whole defunding talk out of Congress right now needs some serious reframing by Democrats to increase public support on their side (and eventually get to 60 votes in the Senate) and ensure the least amount of political fallout now and in the future for redeployment legislation?

I'm not talking about this week's Kos-Obama kerfluffle...

Buried (rightfully so) in all the talk today about Scooter Libby and Walter Reed and the U.S. attorney firings has been Hillary Clinton's appearance before EMILY's List today.

Yet after seeing this in the Note today I just can't resist commenting on it here:

EMILY's List has endorsed Clinton and will mobilize its activists and donors in support of her candidacy.

A key piece of the grassroots effort will be an online initiative called "I Can Be President." The Clinton campaign plans to launch an "I Can Be President" web site to invite women across the country to express their support for Clinton's candidacy

After reading this... I'm curious what others think about the idea of equating Hillary becoming president with your chances of becoming president. I think this approach will totally work with my mother, who grew up in a Chicago suburb not far from Hillary's and is about the same age and already supporting her and has long been fond of her.

But am I the only woman who finds Hillary's campaign theme as a breakthrough for womanhood unappealing? Is it a generational thing?

As far as I know, the only executive experience that is noted in Barack Obama's bio is his stint as editor of the Harvard Law Review.

For many this is a cause for concern if not outright opposition, and I understand this. But for me, more important than experience is the right judgment, vision, character and temperament which I happen to believe Obama has more than the other candidates.

This interesting piece by a conservative who knew Barack when at Harvard reaffirmed my belief in him as a leader: