I am proud of Barack Obama.

His showing in Mississippi, while not overwhelming by any means, is strong. And it shows a number of things that are hopeful. As Patty points out, this would never have happened in 1963!! His showing in the country at large is a hopeful sign that the deep, urgent need to rethink our "business as usual" methods as a nation is being felt and recognized widely. This fact alone actually restores some measure of long-abraded confidence in the vision of a constitutional democracy surviving the depradations of greed and clique and claque that has been so well orchestrated by rich good old boy networks over the last two centuries.

Rig, if you are trying to argue that Obama's supporters are operating on racial bias, I have to disagree. It is more likely, to me, that the people who are turning out to vote for him are responding to who he is and what he says, rather than his epidermal melanine ratio.

A