A brief bit of posting before my mind is totally blown by the Lost finale...

Sports open: I could not possibly be happier for the Celtics right now. Beating the Pistons on the road, and finally getting the Pierce/Allen/Garnett troika to the Finals... Awesome. Also, while I'm thrilled that KG and Jesus Shuttlesworth have at last made the big show, I'd be utterly lying if I didn't say I was happiest for Pierce. Ten years of busting his ass for the Green and at last within shouting distance of a title. Congrats, Paul. Guarding Kobe will be unpleasant, I don't envy you that, but I think we've got a shot at this one.

Lost mention: Holy shit. That is all.

On to politics. So at the moment we're in the theoretical denoument of the Democratic primary season. Clinton (I tend in common conversation to default to "Hillary," what with there being a prior President Clinton, but it seems somehow belittling to call her by her first name while referring to her opponent via surname... Perhaps I'm overthinking it.) is down by quite a bit, and has no real way to win short of overturning the DNC's initial call on Michigan and Florida and twisting the arms of a great number of superdelegates. And yet she continues. I can't help but wonder why, and not just because I'm in the Obama camp.

It seems, from what I've read, to come down to the simple fact that the Clinton camp thinks that Obama legitimately has no shot in the general. Part of it, I'm sure, is the idea that Hillary's already been smacked around as much as anyone possibly could be by the right and is still standing. This is a fair point, and I must say my esteem for Hillary grows every time the right goes after her. The troubling part of the critique is the general overtone of "there ain't no way a black dude can win." And Hillary and her surrogates haven't exactly been avoiding that particular narrative.

The trouble with this, as I see it, is that it's self-fulfilling. The Clinton campaign may well have reasonable fears that a black man with a foreign-sounding name might well have trouble gaining the votes of (I'd call them "blue-collar whites," but I just can't stand the euphemism anymore) moderate crackers. However, there's no better way to guarantee that than spending an immense amount of money convincing those same voters that Obama's a city-living elitist who'll do nothing but raise their taxes and make their daughters marry darkies and associate with fags.

Is this mostly Mark Penn's fault? Good golly, yes. But for one thing, it makes it no less dumb, and for another thing, it makes me deeply concerned about the judgment that Hillary would bring to Cabinet appointments. The "we've got a plan and we'll see it through, no matter the cost or the obvious flaws" concept in particular worries me.

So with luck, this'll be done in a week. And if not, I'll be swiftly applying for Irish citizenship, and inviting all three of my readers to join me. Till then, off to bed.