Since then, I've seen a lot of whining and crying and calls to put BETTER Dems in office, but no real balls to the wall action. Except on Social Security when Bush decided he was going to make privatization his A-1 Priority.

All of a sudden, Dems knew enough to get in line to protect that puppy, or they may as well have called it a day as a party. Understand, that wasn't about just protecting FDR's legacy. That was Survival 101. If only the Dems could have rallied like that on issues such as funding for Iraq or judicial appointments or net neutrality or FISA.

But we know the real score, don't we?

That's why I laugh at the calls for Hillary to drop out. That makes it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt what wusses Obama, his surrogates and his supporters are.

Drop out? ARE YOU NUTS? WHY????

The Big Dog was still behind at this point in the primary and running third in the campaign for the general election against 41 and Perot. He didn't give up and neither should Hillary, especially against an opponent who's nothing more than the Democratic version of 43, if that. At least 43 had a governorship of a major state on his resume.

Yeah, I know I just said fighting words, and the responses will come fast and furious highlighting their candidate's intelligence and articulation, but an empty suit's an empty suit, no matter the pedigree. And make no mistake about it, we're talking a major empty suit here.

When people compare Obama to JFK or RFK, I KNOW they haven't done the homework or know what they're talking about. Both JFK and RFK were much more than telegenic and charismatic politicians, they were men with years of experience and accomplishment far greater than anything Obama has achieved so far. JFK was a war hero, even if an accidental one as he put it, and RFK served in the Navy, and this was when both were in their early 20's. Both were also highly traveled and both served in the highest echelons of government for many years before having run for President. Obama's record, OTOH, doesn't come anywhere close.

That's why, as a Hillary supporter, I'm all for her taking no prisoners, taking her fight to the convention floor and smacking Obama over the head with the rule book every which way possible. ESPECIALLY if he has blocked the vote from Michigan and Florida from counting.

Let's not kid ourselves here. Michigan and Florida did not occur in a vaccum. Hillary was the brilliant strategist who wouldn't be cowed by NH and Iowa having a hissyfit and recognized early on how critical Michigan and Florida would be in getting a Dem elected. Obama, OTOH, like everything else he's done, bet the farm that he could have the nomination wrapped up without  suffering the consequences for his actions.

Unfortunately for him and his supporters, he bet wrong, and exposed himself as the Democratic version of GWB. Vote suppression? Are you kidding me? What's he afraid of? That he might lose? Or should I say, lose even worse than he did before should those pissed-off voters in MI and FL get the chance to tell him what they really think of him.

I've thought long and hard over this, and I see myself facing only two reasonable choices when casting my vote in November.

The first choice is voting for a Democrat with intelligence, experience, wisdom, judgement and compassion, someone I feel comfortable with facing the Herculean task of cleaning up the devastation that will be left in the wake of the departure of the Bush Administration. Someone who also knows where the bodies are buried, which arms to twist, and which buttoms to push. Needless to say, that choice is not Obama.

The second choice is either vote for McCain or a third-party candidate, depending upon which candidate the third-party candidate will impact the most. While most liberal bloggers will be aghast at this choice and question my liberal credentials, I see this as the best of my options sans being able to vote for Hillary. To those who say "well, what about the Supreme Court and Iraq and everything else we care about", I respond with the following:

Having lived under Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, his idiot-spawn and Chaney, McCain can do no worse. If anything, I have VERY high hopes that should he be elected, he will bring down the GOP to the point of extinction, possibly inciting the American people to really revolt against their government in the most meaningful way I can think of.

What's lose-lose to me is voting for a guy who's essentially the Democratic version of GWB or the second coming of Jimmy Carter (take your pick) and watching as his ineptness in the job is headlined throughout the global media on a daily basis, taking down the Democratic Party along with him.

I have yet to discover anything that qualifies Obama for the highest office of our nation, and the rational how he runs his campaign shows how well he will run the country doesn't cut it. I've known guys who could ace the test given in class, but when called on to perform the actual job just literally fell apart when it mattered. What mystifies me are those supporters who extoll what a brilliant record of achievements this guy has when in reality it's not any better than W's when he ran back in 2000, and with about the same level of gladhanding to get where he is.

Examining the nominating process in the coldest possible light, I'm willing to write off the diehard Obamabots and all the new votes he brought with him. From my vantage point, he's not the only reason people are excited to vote for the Democratic nominee this year. To me, she's the sure thing to reach the promised land whereas he's much too big a roll of the dice. I KNOW she'll use every means possible to overcome McCain and anyone else in her way, whereas his inability to seal the deal clearly demonstrates how long the odds are for him to prevail.

Obama supporters will rally and claim she hasn't sealed the deal either, failing to recognize that in actuality she HAS sealed the deal -- with the Democratic base. If she hadn't, she'd be long gone already from this race. One doesn't whine about their opponent unless they really are scared they're going to lose big if the contest continues.

At one time, I would have considered voting for Obama, but that was a long time and too many burnt bridges ago. When leveling any criticism against Obama results in my being called a racist, I know things have gone way over the deep end. Just because I'm white doesn't make the charge valid no matter the color of the individual making it. I've seen colleagues of mine discriminated far worse by their peers who were all persons of color than was ever done to me or that I may have inadvertantly done to others, so I'm pretty sure most if not all, especially Obama and his supporters, are living in some pretty fragile glass houses these days.

Remember the episode of THE WEST WING that took place at the Democratic convention trying to decide who the nominee would be? It goes without saying all loyal fans KNEW Matt Santos would end up the nominee. The key question that kept everyone riveted was how. If you go back and pay attention to the details, you'll understand why Obama and his supporters don't want this fight going all the way to the convention. Once balloting goes past the first round, the delegates are free to vote for whomever they want. That's why Obama is doing his level best to make sure his delegates are loyal strictly to him, issues be damned. He knows once they get to the convention, Hillary and Bill have a LOT of chits to call in, to say nothing of the offers they can make. It'll be Let's Make A Deal for the Presidency. At that point, anything goes.

That's a fight I'm sure a lot of Hillary supporters are willing to sign on to.  As I said at the beginning, I'm not going to get mad. I'm just going to do my part to win the war. Brass knuckles. Broken bottles. Defense contracts. Rebuilding New Orleans. Universal health care. Whatever it takes.