especially when I see him with his two beautiful daughters.  How incredible for little girls and little boys of color to see children who look like they do and think, "My dad or my mom could be President of the United States.  I could be President of the United States." 

But then just like Michael Corleone in The Godfather  Part Three being pulled back into the family business, I read a little snippet of something Senator Obama has said and I get pulled right back into the old ways of finding him to be one of the most annoying people in politics.  Generally it's not a big policy statement that does it, more often his remarks are just a casual response to something someone has said.  Take for instance this week, I had just come off of watching the press conference in which he finally broke ties with Jeremiah Wright; although he still didn't answer the questions the whole Reverend Dr. Wright drama brings to my mind and didn't break with the minister until JW personally offended him, I was still impressed by both his answers and his demeanor.  I like him more when he's angry and shows it, although I do realize that he has lived his life avoiding the the appearance of being the stereotypical "angry black man."  I didn't find any of that unfortunate caricature in his press conference, I just saw a real person who was hurt, sad and furious at a perceived betrayal, that is much more appealing to me than his general posture as the "taking us to the promised land redeemer."

Just as I was settling into some sort  of uneasy "maybe we can be friends" mode with Barack, I stumbled - totally by accident - across two quotes that brought St. Barack of Obama back to the fore; neither was new but both were so indicative of how he previously came across to me that they were all the more galling.  I'm sure it's the same feeling people who hate Hil have when she does something that for them once again proves that she is a back alley fighting opportunist.  The first was just an off hand petulant spout off to a reporter who asked about the 2 1/2 day vacation Senator Obama took to the Virgin Islands:  "It's a long weekend that most Americans get about 50 times a year."  The second was a reference to himself and his close friend Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick:  "We are the change we've been waiting for."  (To begin with it ends with a preposition but let's be real, it's not very inspiring to say "We are the change for which we have been waiting.")  Yes, I know that the Obama campaign has been grounded on this very thought and that it has been uttered over and over again; however, in this particular circumstance I was once again reminded that if you haven't bought a house in Obama-ville it quite often seems that the "we" with which the Senator Obama begins his sentences is not the solidarity "we", it is the imperial "we".  

Both of these comments left me with the same feeling I had when I read the remarks made by the  Senator's wife to women in Zanesville, Ohio about how hard it is for the millionaire Obamas to pay the $10,000 it takes for their daughters' various extracurricular activities; in their wake the tiny river of good feeling that had been building for Obama the everyday, angry man evaporated.  Still, I want to believe.  No matter what happens tomorrow in Indiana and North Carolina - and I am hoping for a Clinton win in Indiana and a Clinton loss by nine points or less in North Carolina - I believe that Senator Obama will be the party's nominee and I am desperately looking for a way not just to vote for him but also not to hit the mute button every time I hear his voice.

Help me out, Barack.  Go sit down with some of the good people of middle America and listen to them - listen.  Listen to them tell you how a lot of them are working two jobs without any weekends off.  Have Michelle sit down and listen to them talk about family budgets that barely cover necessities much less music and soccer lessons.  Don't give them scholarly treatises on why they are bitter, instead have a look at their gun racks (but please don't try to shoot anything) and maybe even take a turn in the pew of one of their churches.  Don't tell them how your campaign is the change for which they have been waiting, try to understand the changes they have made in themselves and their communities just to survive.

Should you be the nominee, Senator Obama, I want to vote for you.  Should you be President, I don't want to spend the next eight years as I have spent the last eight years:  turning off the sound rather than listen to another "God wanted me to be here" President.  C'mon please, Barack, give me something me something to work with here.