I was quite disturbed to hear Hillary Clinton’s latest attack on the Obama campaign. So far we have suffered through rumors of Obama’s Muslim ties, which were supposedly destined to throw the country back into the Dark Ages, charges of plagarism because he repeated what someone else once said, and now an attack against Ms. Obama.

What’s up with the Clintons? They are not going to lose this campaign through negative campaigning by the Obama team but rather by their own short sightedness. Look at their feeble attempt to draw in the Hawaii voters. I was personally appalled by Chelsea’s cold “don’t touch me — don’t you know who I am?” attitude when being welcomed by the Hawaiian people. It has always been my experience that the Hawaiian people are a warm, loving and affectionate people who deserve our respect and appreciation for the beautiful country that they willingly share with us.

Then I listened to Hillary trying to garner the Latino vote in Texas and couldn’t help but pick up on her condescending attitude. She actually made a big deal out of the fact that she lived in San Antonio for three months and learned to like Mexican food. What was ever wrong with Mexican food? It has always been one of the best choices around. Why anyone can’t see through her chameleon-like changes is beyond me.

That brings me back to her mud-slinging at the Obamas. How many of you in your hearts, when you are being totally honest with yourselves, can say that you have been as proud to be an American in the last seven years as you were during the Reagan era? I can’t. I have felt that Bush is an embarrassment to the country and his policies have destroyed our standing in the global economy. The Arabs no longer need America’s good will and even the offer to sell them weapons did nothing to stop them from slowing the production of oil. China is now taking our place as a world-provider of almost everything and they are preparing to raise prices so that they can increase the quality of life for their people. The European Community cannot understand America’s position on global environmental issues and those of us in America are appalled by the huge increase in the national debt. This is especially frustrating when we are also faced with increased costs in heating our homes, driving our cars, and putting food on our tables.

America seems to have become a land that is rapidly dividing into a place where the rich get richer off the backs of the middle and lower classes and the poor get poorer. Even health care is beyond the reach of many American with no relief in sight. The price of prescription drugs alone keeps many seniors without the ability to buy sufficient food to eat. With education being another target of the government bigwigs it appears that the future is not much brighter for our children — if anything a parent cannot help but wonder what future our children have.

As for Ms. Obama, I believe that she is just voicing this same frustration. She knows what being poor is like and worked hard to rise above it. She is also younger and since the last twenty years of the Bush/Clinton White House has been embarrassing what was there for her to be proud of. Remember Bill Clinton, the almost impeached president, who couldn’t keep his pants zipped up? Remember Bush senior’s “Read my lips, no new taxes” only to get hit with a war and increased taxes? Now we have Bush junior who has dug a hole that will be difficult for anyone to dig us out of. So yes, I understand where Ms. Obama is coming from and I am also sure that her comment was taken out of context by the Clinton camp.

Be prepared, Clinton is looking for anything from stating that Obama is all about the campaign, in other words, all talk to being determined to garner superdelegate votes despite the popular vote. I would think that the public is speaking loudly when Obama has won the last 10 caucuses/primaries. It would be so nice if the Democratic Party would wake up and give us a candidate that stands a chance against the Republicans that none of us wants to see in office.

Sadly, if you live in southwest Missouri it was inevitable to hear racist remarks regarding the ability of Barack Obama to lead this nation but fortunately there are enough open-minded, intelligent people that listened to Obama’s message and helped him gain the majority of the state’s popular vote. To me, the opportunity that Obama offers to change the good boy policy of Washington politics is long past due and his statement that “I’m asking you to believe not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington — I’m asking you to believe yours” is strongly reminiscent of JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country.”

Like Reagan, Obama appears to have the charisma needed to restore our faith in ourselves and in our country something that the other candidates seem to be sadly lacking in. Admittedly, my opinion has changed over the last several months since I first threw my support to John Edwards and then Ron Paul.

Now, however, having carefully listened to and reviewed Obama’s stand on the issues I can’t help but believe that he is what our country needs. First and foremost he promises change in Washington and I can’t believe that, unless you are a part of the rich and powerful families, that have unsuccessfully ruled this country for generations, you are not ready for this change. Secondly, and equally important is the fact that Obama has raised his money through grass roots donations, often of just $10 or $20 at a time. He has not sold himself to special lobbyists, nor is he owned by corporate America.

One thing that must be noted are the lies that are constantly being spread among the church people that Obama is Muslim, funded by Al Qaeda, and set on taking over America from within and returning us to the dark ages. First of all, his religious beliefs should not even enter into his bid for office but even if they did he adamantly denies that he is Muslim stating instead that he has actively worshipped Jesus for the last 20 years. Even though his father was a Muslim who I am sure wanted his son to follow in his footsteps this is not hard for me to believe since I was raised in a non-religious background during my earliest years, educated in a parochial school, and then raised in an assortment of churches during my teen years. Today, I have made my choice to be open-minded to all religions though I choose to affiliate myself with the Methodist denomination.

If I can do that why can’t Obama? Then, Obama has to deal with the racist remarks, even on the news stations, about him being black. Who cares? I certainly don’t. I just want to know that the man is capable of getting us out of the mess that Bush has gotten us into. We need our troops sanely withdrawn from Iraq. We don’t need to go to war against any other country. We need our infrastructure fixed. We need our economy fixed. We need jobs returned to America. We need affordable healthcare and affordable energy. We need our schools restored to a place where all children are offered a safe and affordable opportunity to be all they can be so that they can be competitive in a global economy.

Can Obama accomplish all of this? I don’t know. All I know is that if anyone can, I believe he can especially if pressure is put on the tenured senators and House representatives that would force them to work with him.

To reiterate, Barack Obama is funded entirely funded by grassroots supporters and unlike Clinton he does not accept money from special interest groups and Washington lobbyists. Therefore, Obama owes nothing to the health care insurance industry, to the oil industry, or to the weapons industry. This means that his only obligation is to the American people and doing what is best for America.

Like me, there are many citizens out there who believe in Obama which was obvious with his wins in thirteen of the 22 states in Super Tuesday’s primaries with some of his wins coming from such unlikely states as Alabama, Utah, and Missouri. There is no way that Clinton can claim that his win in these states were the result of purely black vote since I am white and many of those in Missouri that I know who voted for him are also white.

Given this win and his strong showing in the other states I think that Obama has shown that he can win the support of Americans of every race, gender, and political persuasion in every region of the country. With that in mind one must give him serious consideration as the one Democratic candidate who actually has a chance to defeat John McCain in November.