As Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination tonight, he should hope that the speeches of his rival for that position and her husband have helped assuaged her supporters’ concerns of about his candidacy. It seems he himself did little to reach out to them in the nearly three months between Hillary’s withdrawal from the race and this week’s convention.

Shortly after the McCain campaign released ad featuring a woman elected as a delegate for Hillary Clinton who nows backs his bid for the White House, I read:

After Clinton conceded the race, [Debra] Bartoshevich said she could not support Obama and threw her support to McCain. The state party stripped her of her status as a delegate last month.
McCain seized on her story, meeting with Bartoshevich for coffee when he campaigned in Racine last month.

A shrewd move on McCain’s part. I wondered why, unlike his Republican rival, Obama made no effort to reach out to this Democrat to attempt to persuade her to support her party’s nominee. Wondered indeed if he made any effort to meet with any of her delegates — or to otherwise sit down with rank-and-file Hillary supporters. (A few google searches turned up nothing.)

Perhaps he thinks he can solve anything with the power of his oratory and the force of his personality. As if speeches alone can address the concerns voters have about the the Democratic nominee and his associates.

And here’s the ad, yet another Hillary supporter coming out for John McCain:

watch?v=597YG23mAWs