President McCain

Call me a Gloomy Gus, but these North Carolina results - supposedly a big win for Obama - to me spell near-certain doom for the Democrats.

Clinton beat Obama among white North Carolina voters by a margin of 23%. And these white voters are (for the most part) registered Democrats. If white Democrats are so unwilling to vote for a black man that they'll vote for a woman who's already mathematically lost the nomination, who's widely regarded as hugely unpopular, and who makes almost daily gaffes, just to register their dissatisfaction with a black candidate (and that's how I see this vote), how much chance does Obama have in the general election?

It all makes me begin to suspect that Krugman is right, and that nonblack Americans just will not elect a black president. Hillary's resurgence following the Wright affair seems like strong evidence that nonblack Americans (and this goes even more for Hispanics and Asians than for whites) are just fundamentally extremely distrustful of African-America political goals. When Obama seemed like a post-racial candidate, he could win among white Democrats, but that's over now.

Prepare to meet your next president - a batshit crazy septugenarian warmonger who brags about not understanding economics and who called his wife a "cunt" in front of reporters. Oh joy.

PS - I hope this whole post is completely and utterly wrong and silly.

PPS - On the other hand, some of what's going on could be the "Limbaugh effect" - Rush has been urging Republicans to get out there and vote for Clinton in order to prolong the Democratic chaos. Sounds crazy, but I actually registered as a Republican in 2000 to vote for John McCain (just to annoy George Bush), so people do do this.

PPPS - And then again, there are those nationwide polls showing Obama with a 51-40 lead over McCain. Pre-convention polls tend to be meaningless, though (Mondale was ahead of Reagan, I believe), so I don't put too much stock in this..