As good as he'll get

A while ago, imagining a world where everyone loves their kids as much as I do, I positioned the possibility that even unreformed racists might go into the voting booth and pull the lever for Obama because they want a better future for their kids. Another possibility is that pure self-interest - the realization that Republican economic dogma is bankrupt and unsupportable - might lead racists to bite down hard and vote for Obama. A persuasive posting on Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com argues otherwise. And, for your sanity as an Obama supporter, it might make sense to listen. Silver's argument is that many of the remaining undecideds out there are fully aware that McCain's economic proposals, in so far as they are fleshed out, will only prolong financial chaos, deepen the country's economic crisis, and result in more pain, dislocation, and hopelessness for the working class. But voting for Obama would require them to overcome a deeply rooted intrinsic racial prejudice. It would mean putting aside a worldview, held for their entirely lives, and perhaps handed down to them by their parents, that explains events in history, and their own poverty and powerlessness, as the product of conspirators or misguided do-gooders, who have created a world out of balance, in which inferior races have contaminated and dragged down America.

It seems unlikely that anyone who views the world this way will ever walk into a voting booth and cast a vote for Obama. These voters will either stay at home or vote for McCain. It might be that Obama has persuaded everyone he can persuade, so the gap between Obama and McCain will narrow as the few remaining undecided voters reluctantly drift toward McCain. They really have no other choice, because voting for Obama would invalidate their core beliefs and require them to reconstruct the world from the ground up.

The goal for Obama, then, is to register new voters and to convince wallflowers - all those registered voters who too often sit out elections - to get off their butts and vote, and the campaign knows this and has assembled a ground game to try to accomplish it.

So when the polls tighten between now and election day, and you imagine the sky falling (or, if you are like me, and see us fumbling the ball away at the 2 yard line), take a breath. Remember I told you this was going to happen. And take heart that Obama's campaign is ready for it. Oh, and get your ass off the couch and be part of that campaign.