"I will win, don't worry about that," Obama told a crowd of 1,300 people at a fundraiser Sunday night in California, one of three back-to-back events which netted a staggering 7.8 million dollars, his campaign said.

Obama's vow opened a crucial week in his White House duel with Republican John McCain, the last before his party's nominating convention in Denver, with expectations high that he will soon name his vice presidential nominee.

Given the deteriorating economy, "bungled" foreign policy and unpopular Iraq war, Obama said it would be nice if voters would simply think "'Toss the bums out, we're starting from scratch, we're starting over.'"

"These are the knuckleheads who have been in charge -- throw em out. But American politics aren't that simple," he said, arguing people needed to be prodded into voting for change.

And he warned Republicans had a "whole machinery that they're cranking out" full of negative character attacks designed to scare people away from him.

But the Illinois senator, introduced in San Francisco by House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi as a "leader that God has blessed us with at this time," vowed not to make the mistake of previous Democratic nominees in failing to sufficiently repel Repubican assaults.


  If--and, that is a big if--Obama is the "leader that God has blessed us with at this time", then he is no gift...more like the booby prize in some cosmic party game.  

It is interesting that people who have little regard for people of faith....and, at first evidenced being uncomfortable mixing God into politics ... are now able to throw the terminology around like "old timers".

I suspect that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was more of a prophet than we knew...he was the one that pointed out that Obama was like any other politician:  ready to say or do anything to get elected.  

   SOURCE