Chicago Politics

I find this article by Eric Zorn in the Chicago Tribune very interesting. He gives 8 reasons why Sen. Obama will lose the election. There are a couple reasons there that I do not think will have much to do with the election, for example, "too much defense," "more dismissive than responsive," and not focusing on McCain's relationship with Renzi. I think these are marginal at best. Mr. Zorn mentions "Bittergate," but I think this misses the point, at least the current point. I do think Sen. Obama's comment about people in Pennsylvania being bitter does and will hurt him, but who does not know about Joe the Plumber and Sen. Obama's "share the wealth" comment? This is much more damaging, but somehow absent from Mr. Zorn's list. I will say that Mr. Zorn gets it right that Sen. Biden's comment(s) have not helped Sen. Obama. I am not sure there is a VP candidate that has done more damage to their own ticket than Sen. Biden. However, in my final comment, I have to take issue with Mr. Zorn's eighth reason why Sen. Obama will not win. Mr. Zorn claims race is a big factor, so big in fact that if Sen. Obama had all these same issues, but were white, the presidential race would not even be close because Sen. Obama would win easily. I am sorry, but I find this very hard to believe, and a bit offensive. For one thing, I think Sen. McCain and most people I know have focused on the issues and not on race at all. Second, I resent the implication that simply because someone does not vote for Sen. Obama they must be racist. To paraphrase my favorite comedian, Dennis Miller, with regard to race, "Why dislike someone based on the color of their skin when you can take some time, talk to them, get to know them better, and probably come up with a really good reason to dislike them?" I certainly have reasons why I would not like Sen. Obama (or for that matter Sen. McCain) to be the next President of the United States, and none of them have to do with the color of his skin.