So some guy canning beans in a trailer thinks that he needs a president who's "his kind of people". Excuse me, does he think the McCains are "his kind of people". Does he really?

Yes, he does. Wealth has very little to do with it. It's hard for some to understand, but many people have a great, almost religious love, for country. To you, the Flag is a piece of cloth, not much more. To others, it's a symbol worth dying for. If you saw someone burning a Flag, I doubt your reaction would be the same as watching someone rape a child. That's the kind of gut reaction some attacks on patriotic symbols brings to many people. It's an attack on their soul.

Can this dope with the beans marry a woman who buys $250,000 earrings? Is he the well connected son of an admiral? I think not.

None of that matters. This "dope" would love to able to buy $250,000 earrings, and this "dope" understands that being the son of an admiral means you don't get to see your farther very much, because he's out defending the country.

These people connect with McCain, because they want to be McCain. The don't want to be Obama. My guess you would love to be more like Obama.

And why do we need a president who is the equivalent of some dope in a trailer in terms of both mentality and education? Well in that sense I guess McCain fits the bill--fifth from the bottom of his class and all.

See, the constant mocking and tone only alienates those you need to vote for Obama. BTW, Biden was just as far down in his class.

You value education, so use that, instead of mocking people and driving them away, understand that they dislike Obama because they can't see themselves as every being Obama and don't want to be.

You don't want to be McCain, the same way you feel about Obama, many others feel about McCain.

But really, it's about angry old white guys voting for other angry old white guys who are just as stupid as they are, and feeling resentful and vicious towards anybody who's done better in life in terms of being smart or well-educated, particularly if they are from a minority group.

It's not anti-education, it's when people look down their noses at others that people turn on them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, people are suspicious of Obama's life experiences and extensive travel because such is out of reach for them, and they actively resent his success.

It's not resentment, it's lack of connection. They don't relate to him and don't want to be him. They wouldn't care if McCain got a PHD, just as they didn't care that Bush had an MBA.

Part of campaigning is presenting yourself in a matter to relate to the most people. Bush was good at this, despite his other obvious flaws. It was a facade, but so is Obama.

Money is okay, but too much book learnin' is a bad thing. Now look at McCain. He got rich and managed to stay stupid, just like "regular folks".

-- tinwoman

No, too much you think you're better than others is the problem.

You gotta love Obonzo!bot stupidity/hypocrisy.

99% of the blacks in North Carolina voting for the black candidate is great! But if most of the whites vote for the white candidate (the one who is y'know actually QUALIFIED) in West Virginia than they're racists.

Oh, and hard-working people experiencing hard-times with kids in Iraq are going to be so impressed with the Empty Suit's guitar music and Change! rhetoric - particularly when nobody bug nobody can find a single person besides himself, his obnoxious wife, and some Syrian slumlords that are better off for his self-serving existance.

You really do get it. And once again I applaud you for what you write here on Salon.

I grew up in a small town in Colorado, and I am quite serious in saying there was ONE, count 'em, ONE black person in our entire "community" of about 5,000 folks. I'm talking high school, the late 70s, and he was my age, and had been adopted by a white couple. He was "well-liked" but how could he possibly "fit in" given the scenario? No date for the prom. And that stinks.

Ok, I could go on and on. But you already said everything better than I could possibly say it. All I know is that I watched Obama tonight on the forum for service and I thought, damn, I want a smart president!!! I even got into an argument with my husband about "subconscious racism"--as in, find another excuse not to vote for Obama because REALLY I'm not racist. BS.

You mentioned having an interracial baby as being a rapid remedy to racism. And you know what else? The best cure for homophobia is having to admit that "one of your own beloveds" is gay.

Why is it in American politics that personality is so vital to the presidency? I fumble for answers but none come. This election season the the polling numbers ought to show Obama crushing McCain for a litany of reasons.

Faith, skin color, wealth, looks, age, gender, height, elitism, dialect, friendliness, know-ability, church history, origination, ...these have nothing to do with issues.

What about the war, the economy, Bushs surveillance program, foreign policy? What about good government?

Any three year old can figure out that a guy with a name like that and two Muslim stepfathers is going to be a automatically handicapped candidate in post 9/11 America, but come Obonzo!bots tell us how much smarter you are than the rest of us!

Bush and Obama both have graduate degrees from Harvard. Obama's is in law, Bush's in business administration.

Bush was an undergraduate at Yale, Obama at Columbia.

Nope, his campaign has stayed on message about the true issues. It's others in the media and on the internet that have attacked her on stupid stuff.

For instance all that nonsense Nobama and his sleazy supporters were spouting about Bill and Hillary suddenly being the Ma and Pa Kettle of the KKK for noting truthfully that (gasp!) a white President was instrumental in the civil rights movement.

Axelrod's sophmoric plan to get Obonzo! into the WH didn't work out so well. And ever since Obonzo! doesn't have Hillary to talk before him in a debate or her campaign to steal healthcare plans from, he doesn't seem to have a lot to say. The greedy schister is sinking faster than the Titanic and his obnoxious supporters are looking like ostriches in headlights.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of ostriches.