And now the hard work starts

So....can we stop the demands for flowers and candy now? Now that Hillary Clinton not only did the right thing today, but did it in fine style, tying in her own themes with the larger themes of race and change -- and best of all, telling her Ellen Jamesian supporters loudly and clearly, "Don't you DARE fuck this up." It almost seemed as if she suddenly woke up and thought, "What the hell just happened here?" and realized it was HER job to steer the Democratic ship away from the iceberg, even if it's for another captain now to get it into port.

But while it's tempting to feel giddy at the prospect of what could be and what perhaps can be, let's remember what we're up against:

The Republicans are great at framing issues and labelling candidates. And the new buzzword for Obama is radical. Right-wing radio host Sean Hannity has even re-named his show the "Stop Radical Obama express." On his program Thursday he literally said "radical" about every fourth word. Radical, radical, radical. Get ready, Democrats. We're gonna hear that word more in the next five months than we've heard in a lifetime.

Listening to Hannity's program makes you wonder if he and his kool-aid-drunken listeners are not part of some twisted, brainwashed cult. They greet each other with "you're a great American" and depart with "God bless you." The level of ignorance that flows freely on this program is astounding. Hannity's mission is clearly to poison anyone who comes within earshot of him with lies and deception about the Obamas. Here's a few of his shameless rants from Thursday:

"I am telling you, Barack Obama will move this country in a direction that is so radical that it will shock your senses."

"He (Obama) has views that would probably shock the average American."

"He's a Radical left winger, to the left of George McGovern."

And on 1960's terrorist William Ayers, embattled Chicago developer Tony Rezko and the Reverends Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger: Obama is "a phony. A friend of all these people, and who will associate with anyone who can help him politically."

Throughout his program Hannity hammered home the term "radical associations" to describe these controversial relationships. It's abundantly clear that Hannity's goal for the next five months is to scare the hell out of his regular audience, and anyone else who might be listening for that matter.

Make no mistake: the constant regurgitation of the word "radical" is meant to conjure up all sorts of fear, anger and racial prejudice. Think "radical Muslim." Think "angry black man." Think Willie Horton. This sort of pandering to the racist dumbasses of America is beyond despicable, but it's what the GOP does best. It's pure propaganda. And like all good propaganda, if you say it enough it sticks.

The demonizing of Obama was also evident on the Mark Levin radio program Thursday, where the nominee was accused of just about everything short of eating babies. Here's a snippet of Levin's lies and deception: "Barack Obama has been hostile to Jews and to the state of Israel for years." Oh really Mark? Perhaps you'd like to back that up with some actual facts? Ooops, sorry. There's nothing about facts in the Rovian playbook.

Fear of the Scary Negro™ is all the Republicans have to run on this time. Think about it -- the so-called Reagan Revolution now lies in ruins, and in the middle of the smoking mess is a crazy, senile old man laughing like Beavis and joking about "Bomb bomb Iran." Is anyone else thinking of Trashcan Man from The Stand riding into Las Vegas with a nuclear weapon in his motorcycle's sidecar, muttering "Bumpty-bump" when envisioning that?

I just got home from getting my hair done. My local gas station, where I paid $30 to fill up a Corolla last night at $3.85/gallon, is today charging $3.99. It is 95 degrees out on June 7 in New Jersey. Southbound traffic on the Garden State Parkway is almost nonexistent, which means that most ancient of Jersey Rites, the day trip "down the shore" has gone the way of the Flagship, Denison Clothiers (where money talks and nobody walks), and Murray the K. No one is talking about vacations. No one is talking about anything but the price of gas. I spent $91 at the A&P on fruit, coffee, cheese, a package of pork chops, a package of Laura's Grass-Fed Lean Ground Beef, a box of panko bread crumbs, some low-fat ice cream bars, and a cheesecake for Mr. Brilliant's birthday. And Sean Hannity is talking about how Barack Obama "will move this country in a direction that is so radical that it will shock your senses."

As opposed to what, Mr. Hannity?

Let's not kid ourselves here. Barack Obama is a terrific candidate. If Clinton goes out and stumps like this, that's only to the good. But don't think for one minute that there isn't a sizable percentage of the population that's still in that mean, scared place that they were right after the 9/11 attacks. And all they know is that they just don't want to be scared anymore. And if we're to make these people realize that while change can be scary, change from a shitty situation can only be for the good, we're going to have to show these people that we're happy to hold their hands while we make the journey together.

Today we exhale. Tomorrow we roll up our sleeves.