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I presume the underlying premise for Salon to publish this letter is that A) it's news that we have racists, bigots, and anti-intellectuals in our country, and/or B) we progressives should really be concerned about this demographic and do our utmost to reach them and persuade them of Obama's qualities.
But I disagree with both.
No literate, conscious adult in this day and age could be surprised that our electorate comprises some of the least informed and most incurious voters on the planet. This fact is just not news.
And in my opinion, it is a losing strategy to give these backward dimwits any time and attention that could be spent addressing people who at least have some capacity for abstract thought.
When someone says, "I know this sounds stupid, but the reason I'm not voting for Senator Obama is his middle name," the only reasonable response is to feel pity... as you agree with them (“you're right, that IS stupid”)... and then walk away.
You do NOT publish this quote as an appeal to Senator Obama to do more to engage its author and other walking brainstems like him. That is a fool’s errand, and we should leave it to the foolish!
