Let me make it clear:  I don't like Obama.  I think he's a naive fool.  

I don't believe in the blather about "transformation"---and if Obama does win the White House, I think he's going to be in for a rude shock when he tries to govern.  

I don't believe in the blather about "unity" which has the nutritional value of cotton candy; unity requires a common goal and a common philosophy and this country has neither and Obama will not overcome the fracture lines but will have to deal with them.  

I laugh and then I cry at the notions that Obama represents a "post-partisan" future...folks who believe in that should also check out the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.  Republicans are not going to drop their tenacious equivalent of trench warfare in opposition just because Obama wins.  The only way to overcome them is to overpower them or make them irrelevant.

I don't believe that Obama is "inspirational" in any meaningful sense.  Actually, listening to him inspires me in the direction of nausea.   "I love the way Obama makes me feel," some of his supporters have gushed.  Loving how someone makes you feel is a great reason to go on a date with them, a lousy reason to vote for someone.

I will vote for Obama despite my contempt for many of his supporters who resemble nothing so much as participants in an evangelical religious movement.  Obama is not the Anointed One.   Nor will I ever forgive the Hillary-hating.  I still hold the Eugene McCarthy supporters who stayed home instead of voting for Hubert Humphrey as responsible for giving us the long national nightmare that was Richard Nixon (this litany may seem like indecipherable ancient history to many Obama supporters), so I'll remember the Hillary-hating as long as I live.  And the lesson holds true in reverse:  it's incumbent on Hillary's supporters not to sit on their hands and give the election to John McCain.

Beyond the man and philosophy, I'm concerned on a ruthlessly pragmatic electoral level.  I think the Democrats can pick up 5-7 Senate seats and 10-15 House seats and will do so.  In contrast, I think Obama vs. McCain may be a real sled ride for the White House, despite the vulnerability of the Republican brand and McCain's weak points.

Obama may have a good chance of taking Virginia and Colorado but he also puts Pennsylvania into play in the other direction, which  is purely criminal.   With Obama, Florida is out of reach and Ohio is dicey as is New Hampshire.  This election is likely to be another cliffhanger with a narrow victory in the Electoral College one way or the other.

And it's because of this, despite Obama's shortcomings, despite my loathing of Obamamaniacs, that I will vote for him.   For if Obama is the Fool, McCain is the Malignancy.  

McCain has a reputation as a maverick, a moderate, and a straight-talker.   All three premises are demonstrably false.
His support of Bush's policies---or even supporting policies more extreme than Bush's---are well documented.  (Wonder if the media will get a clue about this.)  A couple of high-profile variances on the closing of Guantanamo, global warming, and campaign financing shouldn't obscure the fact that McCain has a very conservative record.  In the past two years, McCain has voted in support of Bush 100 percent one year, 95 percent the other.   (Remember, Bush was merchandised as being somewhat moderate as well.)   As for straight-talking, McCain makes John Kerry look like a model of cast-iron resolution in contrast.  Since his loss for the 2000 Republican nomination, McCain has repudiated position after position and embraced the Republican Establishment  in a manner metaphorically akin to an act of oral sex that Republican have gotten so exercised about.

America can not risk four years of John McCain appointing judges, including probable vacancies on the Supreme Court.

America can not risk four more years of a mindless jingoistic unilateral foreign and military policy under John McCain.

America can not risk four more years of Republican environmental, labor, and education policies.

America can not risk four more years of a Republican executive trying to erode our civil liberties.

American women should not have to endure four more years of the right to choose an abortion being under assault.

As a matter of justice, Americans should not have to endure a chief executive hostile to gay rights to keep his base happy.

I will vote for the Fool, maintain a shred of hope, and keep my fingers crossed for luck.  I can't risk turning America over to the Malignancy that is John McCain.