Obama Will Be The Nominee Wednesday Morning

...so declares NBC pundit-in-chief Tim Russert on the "Today" show this morning. He expects a significant number of Democratic "Superdelegates" to declare for Obama after the results of the South Dakota and Montana primary elections are in. This will be enough to put Obama over the top and give him enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination. Hopefully, this will end the Clinton's campaign, and end their strangle hold on the Democratic Party. We'll see.

As for Obama, he did the politically necessary thing by resigning from his church, even though much truth is spoken in that church, truth that is especially relevant to African Americans. The church will go on, and Obama will go on - down their separate paths, as Rev. Wright said.

It's too bad that you have to sell your soul to be elected to office in this country. Idealism is too soon shattered by political realities. If Obama is elected, I hope he can maintain some of his idealism through the political battering that he will endure as soon as he steps into the oval office. Call me cynical, but I don't have high hopes. By the way, read Gary Hart's spot on article on idealism vs. pragmatism over at Huffington.

Jim

PHOTO: The stained glass in the Gothic Cathedral at Leon, Spain is some of the finest I've seen anywhere and rivals even Chartres, after which this magnificent cathedral was initially patterned.