Making a speech in California to the effect that people in the heartland of America are wallowing in ignorance

He was answering a question, not giving a speech. And he didn't say that people are wallowing in ignorance. We know you don't like Obama, but you end up looking foolish when you push it too far.

We have outsourced all the grapes of wrath to non-white immigrant labor now. Have you heard of Caesar Chavez? He's dead now. And California has lots of arid places, like Death Valley. It's arable because of stolen water from N. California and surrounding states. Go rent Chinatown.

But Obama's pro-choice leanings are clear to anybody who looks.

For everything that Hillary Clinton is accused of, she at least had the guts to stand firm on a woman's right to choose last Sunday at the Compassion Forum.

Where, oh where, was Barack Obama? This so-called feminist dived, ducked, waxed, meandered and basically avoided saying that it's a woman's right to choose what to do with her body re: abortion.

Now THIS is either pandering or it is a reflection of how serious he is about the fundamental feminist issue of choice.

I imagine the subject WILL come up in the future, put forth by a McCain surrogate, and I expect that Obama will eventually give a really great speech summing up the positions of both sides and finding a common ground that makes most (but not all) people understand his position.

This is not "feminist". Most feminists believe that the fundamental feminist issue is a woman's right to choose. I am livid that he could not even say he believed it was a woman's right to choose and ultimately up to her in Sunday's Compassion Forum. THAT is not feminist. Even John Kerry had the guts to say it out loud in 2004.

I don't see Clinton doing that nearly as convincingly when the time comes.

Clinton has spent her entire adult life living as a feminist. And she has been one of the U.S. Senate's strongest proponents of legislation that provides and maintains a woman's right to choose: in the military, in foreign aid, in VA health care, in Medicaid legislation, for example.

This is where the rubber meets the road on feminism.

I ran across the Compassion Forum transcript at NYT and was going to read it. Your post reminded me that I need to go back and do this. I am sure it will prove more substantive than the latest debate.

I used to think one could be feminist and not necessarily be firmly prochoice, but since that time, I have not only thought long and hard about it but have known people -- good people and even religious people (Baptists!) -- who have made the hard decision to abort.

My bottom line: You just cannot be a true feminist and not understand that choice is fundamental and intensely personal and private.

Obama often tries to have it both ways. He's a rather peculiar duck. Not wearing the flag pin for instance. He is right of course that it doesn't really mean much -- but if it doesn't mean much one way or another, why not wear it as a symbol of respect for those who think it matters. He compromises or wavers on things he should stand fast on and gets stubborn about things that don't matter much.

Just weird.

So the presidential candidate who's not some little Tammy Wynette staying at home baking cookies for the kids and standing by her cheatin' man scolds Obama as uppity? She's also now a flannel-wearing gun-toting gal that likes to down shooters with the good ol' boys at the local redneck bar? Gimme a break!

I've read Steinbeck's short stories set in the Salinas Valley. The way he described it, that place certainly seemed to enjoy the bounty of nature and I'd say that Okies, Biddies and all the other waifs and strays of the earth would have seen it as heaven on earth despite the coldness of the welcome.

Uncle Fester, I think Obama has bloomed prematurely and will be nipped in the bud. What's more, I don't like people on this site who hunt in packs and try to corner someone else. You don't come on snarling but you seem to roll over to have your tummy tickled by a few of those whose incontinent language is sickening. You had no problem with Fauntleroy/Defarge referring to "biddies" or with him calling me "ignorant" and, predictibly enough, "racist". I'm not going to say "Give me a break"; I'll just take it.

Every time I hear this stuff about educated, leftist, left coast liberal voters, I think that these were not the only people I saw at our caucuses.

I think Obama's populism is reaching much further into the fabric of our culture than you pundits living in the great cities of our country realize. Ordinary people in plaid shirts and jeans are voting for Obama. People are seeing the consequences of the political legacy of the Bushes, Clintons and those who love them so much and they are sick and tired of it.

We heard what he said and while it might have been clumsy, there was a truth in the middle of it.

Here's a quick little video for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCifpbfQlOM

Here's a summary of Obama's stance on abortion. (Hint: He's consistently and firmly pro-choice and has made that clear throughout his political career)

http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm

Sample: "For almost a decade, Obama has been a leader in the Illinois legislature in the battle to protect a woman's right to choose and promote equal economic rights and opportunities."

As for the Compassion Forum, I don't know why Obama didn't go; perhaps he had perfectly valid reasons. You don't need to go to a forum to prove that you hold a particular position. It's not some litmus test, though it sounds like you're trying to make it into one, twisting it into him being "afraid" to take a stand. What utter garbage that is from you.