Obama Blows Clinton Out of the Water!

While I am not much interested in local politics anymore, presidential politics always intrigue me, and what happened last night - which no one expected - was the repudiation in the south of the type of racial politics that have tarnished this country for a long time. The coded language, the references to his middle name, no clear repudiation by the opposition of the e-mails linking Obama to Islam...all of it blown out of the water by the final numbers: 55 percent Obama, 27 percent Clinton.

I woke up, read these numbers on line and said, "wow." Now he has won handily in a mostly white state, and then in a state where more than half the Democratic primary voters are black, came in third, but nearly tied Mrs. Clinton for the white vote, only lost the white demographic on baby boomers and senior citizens. And he won the vote of those invested in religion in South Carolina.

I support Obama's nomination for the Democrats for the very reason I support McCain's for the Republicans: this is a man who can lift this country out of the gutter, who can run a good race against his Republican opponent, even when being challenged on the issues, and who seems, for all I can tell, to be the real thing.

So, good luck on February 5 to Obama, and good luck Tuesday to John McCain. With both of them as their parties nominees, perhaps this country's political process can be redeemed.