Sen. Barack Obama gained the endorsement today of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. But with regular people, his campaign still has a lot of people to convince as the presidential race grows closer.
Powell is prominent. But people suffering and fearing on Main Street don't trust anyone with a title. Remember, it was Powell who sold the United Nations on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before America invaded without provocation.
But what has me convinced that Obama still has a way to go in closing the deal on winning the White House is the response a close friend of mine received from his aunt in Maryland and Metro Baltimore.
Aunt Liz has voted Democratic in every presidential election. She is part of the working poor trying to reach and sustain middle class status. She lived through the Great Depression and loved FDR.
And she at this point in the presidential race is unconvinced on whom she'll vote for. My friend is stunned. She does not trust either candidate. I've found the same sentiment in Tennessee. And that gives McCain an advantage. He is more known than Obama.
Yesterday, Obama spoke to 100,000 people in St. Louis. But Gov. Sarah Palin has been drawing large crowds herself. And her appearance on Saturday Night Live before millions of Americans was bravado. She made Tiny Fey look anorexic. And she was a great sport, which the American people love.
As a vice president, Gov. Palin will learn on the job as other VPs have done. And she will learn foreign policy from a most astute teacher, Sen. John McCain. Plus, McCain will surround himself with the same kind of experienced people like him. Another thing Palin has going for her is the support of my 12-year-old friend Lucille, who is brilliant and just as good looking.
Remember, a stern President Jimmy Carter tried to play the same inexperience hand against Ronald Reagan in 1980. And after Reagan won, Communism in eastern Europe started to fail as he called the Soviets what they really were and told Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
This race is far from over. NBC chief political correspondent Chuck Todd showed McCain now ahead in Ohio. And he will win Pennsylvania, with help from the Bradley effect.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich correctly assessed Obama's good poll numbers in non-traditional Democratic states as indicative of the massive amount of money he has raised, not necessarily his popularity to really win the states.
Which brings me back to Aunt Liz, and the trouble Obama is having in closing the deal on this traditional Democrat.
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