Clinton Supporters Backing Obama

A new poll from the Associated Press and Yahoo! News indicates that more than half of former Hillary Clinton supporters plan to vote for Barack Obama in the general election, though more than one-fifth say they will vote for John McCain, even though those voters are even more liberal than Obama himself.  The poll was taken “in the days after Clinton suspended her campaign” so I suspect that those numbers will only improve from here for Obama as the general election approaches.

Many Clinton supporters may still be angry over the rampant sexism of the campaign (now noted by even Howard Dean and Katie Couric – once the campaign was over, of course) and reluctant to vote for Obama.  I can understand this frustration, though I personally would be more likely to just abstain from voting instead of voting for McCain, but I do think the country would be better off with Obama as president instead of McCain.

The poll also revealed that (news flash!) there are still plenty of stupid people out there.  One former Clinton supporter stated that she distrusted Obama due to his name:

“It sounds to me like a Middle Eastern type of name and whether or not he’s born here in the United States, he doesn’t seem like, to me, somebody who is trustworthy,” Hartle said in a telephone interview. “You can’t trust anybody these days, so who’s to say he’s not a terrorist and we just don’t realize it yet?”

It amazes me that people are willing to let their names be attached to statements like this.  Here’s another lovely tidbit:

“I refuse to vote for an Arab to be in my White House,” said retired salesman Dean Johnson of Lanett, Ala. “That is the only factor. Otherwise, you couldn’t break both my legs and make me vote for a Republican.”

Yeah, you read that right.  Some people are just not ready to have an Arab in the White House.  Of course, he’s not Arab, and not that it should matter.  I wish Obama would just start telling people that it doesn’t matter whether he’s Arab or Muslim instead of just stringently denying it as a “smear”.  (FYI-Being Arab or Muslim is not inherently wrong, even if some stupid rubes think so).  But perhaps that wouldn’t be very PC.