Despite Oregon Primary win, Obama faces big general election problems

Barack Obama won yesterday's Oregon Democratic Primary, but he faces problems in the general election, the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reports:

Sen. Barack Obama staked a claim to the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday, sweeping Oregon but getting trounced by Sen. Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, exposing problems he might face in winning middle-class white votes in the fall campaign.

The Hispanic vote, which outside of the Cuban-American population, which tends to vote Democratic, might be a problem for Obama as well. Despite claims of solidarity among African-American and Hispanic leaders, on the street level there is animosity between the two groups--which compete for jobs. Over the last couple of decades, Hispanics have shown a knack for getting construction jobs, which has not gone unnoticed by blacks. Accusations are made, and when that happens, resentment results. Bitterness too.

As for the Cuban-American vote, Obama wants to meet with benevolent dictator (Hey, toasters are coming in two years!) Raul Castro, and this will sound familiar, without preconditions.

The copywriters for John McCain's Spanish language advertisements in Florida won't have to struggle at all to come up with a message.

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