Is that now we're left with the two worst candidates the Democrats had to offer, which, naturally, would be the two candidates that were always the prohibitive favorites.

Same old playbook: Shoot self in foot. Reload. Shoot other foot.

It's a great joke for the ages in American politics: A black man and white woman vying to be the first major-party presidential nominee of either demographic, and neither of them has much of anything to recommend them beyond gender or race.

Yes, I'm pissed at the horse-race coverage, and yes I'm pissed that so far Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada have such disproportionate early voices, effectively deciding the nomination.

But I'm also pissed at Democratic voters who managed to enable the whole fiasco by coalescing around these two so readily—out of novelty, I suppose, and a sense of history—to the unnecessary and premature exclusion of far more capable candidates.

And I'm pissed that the mantle of these two ostensibly historic candidacies falls on such underwhelming shoulders in such a crucial election. It would be good for the country to make history in this election (or any other, for that matter). It would be even better to actually take the White House back. This historic first ultimately is less important to our nation than taking power away from the Republicans. But, I fear, neither will occur.

I'll show up and vote in November for either Hillary or Obama, but with little enthusiasm, and less optimism. The negatives of each in a general election are too obvious to even merit mentioning, but apparently Democrats didn't get the memo. Hillary inspires venomous hatred on the right, and, I'm sorry to say it, I remain unconvinced that the rest of America is going to hand the presidency, at this juncture, to a black man who is also, unfortunately and more to the point, a political lightweight.

One can only hope that the Republicans manage to nominate Huckabee, or perhaps Romney. If it's McCain, who will appeal to a broad swath of people looking for any viable alternative to Hillary or Obama, it might very well be game over.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong. But I'm becoming rather depressed at the increasingly likely prospect that 8 years of Bush is still not going to be enough to hand the White House back to the Democrats on silver platter, largely because we Democrats seem incapable of pulling our heads out of our asses.

...by either Obama or Clinton.

But whoever wins the nomination, can Democrats/liberals/progressives please pull our collective heads out and rally around the nominee?

The country needs new leadership. The Republicans are bereft of ideas, compassion, and principle. Don't hand it to McCain.

Make like a good Republican. Suck it up, hold your nose, and vote the party.

...right about the time I found out this guy has a nanny. It's so tough!

His situation is not particularly difficult, nor representative, and therefore not all that interesting and/or instructive. Plus, it's boring and trivial, which is sort of the opposite of what an excerpt is striving for.

I think single fatherhood could be better represented.

...it's every damn letter on here telling a parent with a problem to "focus on the children."

Jesus. I think most people get that, especially here. Just because a parent is aware of his/her own needs as a human being it does not mean they are somehow fucking up their children.

Pretending you don't have a life beyond kids is ludicrous, and doesn't do anyone any favors, including the kids.

I felt good watching my kid grow up rooting for you.

We'll miss you.

It would be sexist to assert that an entire gender cannot enjoy something, or must necessarily be injured or offended by something, based solely on gender.

Obviously there are depictions of sex that can be considered anti-feminist, just as there are genres/kinks that can equally be considered pro-feminist, like female domination. I would also argue that submissive female fantasies scripted and acted out by women who have recognized and embraced their submissive tendencies are, by definition, pro-feminist: they're about such women exploring what they enjoy.

I hate to burst peoples' balloons, but I'm backing Obama and after today's performance, I believe that Wright made himself an issue. Before, it was a non-issue. But Wright has insisted that it become and probably remain one.

Is this all an example of self-fulfilling prophecy? I dunno. But I do know how our politics works, and a guy like Wright has provided the Right with plenty of ammo. Whatever we'd all like to think, we all know that's true.

Not because Salon talked about it, in context, to a left-leaning audience and somehow kept this alive when it was otherwise going to die, but because it's alive on its own out there in the land of swiftboating. Putting in your head in the sand and screaming about everything else going on isn't going to change that. And we all know it.

I do agree with Joan. As I sat watching him I thought, "That fucker is only making things worse. What the hell is he thinking? He's enjoying himself."

And that's why it will have legs. I don't think he has anything to do with what Obama would bring to the oval office, but he pissed me off. And he'll be pissing off a lot of conservatives and independents, and that feeling will only have one other person associated with it: Obama.

I don't like it, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking Obama is going to have address it strongly...maybe righteous indignation, but I dunno. His only hope may very well depend on the first suggestion in the panel's advice.