For people wondering why Obama has not "closed the deal" by trouncing McCain in the polls (so far), I offer two observations that should provide a little perspective.

First, imagine January 20th, 2009, with a black man being sworn in as President of the United States.  The historic importance of that achievement cannot be overstated.  No one wants to inject race into the campaign (at least not officially), but a side-effect of that is neglect of the storyline about the monumental obstacles Obama seeks to overcome.  He is turning Martin's dream into a reality.  Who ever imagined such a feat would be easy?

Second, consider the numbers.  Despite his enormous and obvious failures, Bush's popularity never sinks much below 30%.  That means 30% of Americans will NEVER vote for a Democrat, no matter what (we all know some of these people and why this is the case).  On the other hand, at his most popular, just after 9/11, Bush's approval ratings hovered around 90%.  That tells me that about 10% of Americans will NEVER vote for a Republican.  That leaves about 60% of the electorate whose opinion might possibly be swayed, one way or another.  To get the polls to 50/50, Obama needs to reach 2/3 of these people.  He's done that and then some, so how much more can we expect?  Even if it's a landslide, this election will be close.

Tweak the analysis how you want, the point is obvious.  Obama has climbed the mountain.  The next 40 days is about helping him take the last step to reach the summit.  Let's stop asking why the air's so thin.  Eyes on the prize.  (Insert additional metaphors and mix liberally).