Can anyone give me a single reason I should vote for Barack Obama?
bamabob, the short answer to your question is "no". The reason I say this is because you already know - in fact knew long before the Reverend Wright issue - that you would not vote for Obama. Yes, you had a certain degree of respect for the man (if I'm correctly recalling things you've earlier posted), but never would you have considered throwing your vote his way in the general election.
Now of course you, like many others who never would have voted for him in the first place have what you consider a good, valid reason not to. In fact, you've mentioned several reasons you would not vote for him.
Your question would be the same as my asking "Can anyone give me a single reason I should vote for John McCain?" and expecting someone to actually give me a reason that would change my mind. When each citizen reaches the point in an election year when they have made a choice, often that choice is made for them by the other candidates. The reasons are many. A particular candidate cannot win. Another is so vile on his war stance that one's conscience wouldn't allow a vote for him. Maybe it's something as indefinable as personality. Some folks may not think that's important in the grand scheme of things with so many other critical issues. But a person (for my example let's say a woman) who turns off people right and left and who most people honestly say can garner no respect would NOT be the best choice for America's highest post.
So in the end I think that far more people end up voting for a candidate by default than because of ebullient zeal.
Do I believe that Barack Obama has shortcomings? Of course he does. Do I believe that he has more shortcomings that the other viable candidates? I do not. The vote will come down to a choice between flawed, imperfect individuals, not between someone Christ-like or Satanic.
You will NOT vote for Obama, and that's fine. Don't look for reasons to do so. Just accept it won't happen and vote your conscience. But at the same time, don't think your candidate is worthy and flawless and will always make the right choices and the perfect decisions. To the best of my knowledge no president before has ever been that person and the likelihood is that no one from this day forward ever will be either.
Come November, each of us will have one vote. Of course with delegates and superdelegates, our vote may really NOT be worth what it should be, but it is what it is and nobody can make it more than that. I respect the vote that anyone makes, as long as they've thought it out and are voting for the best leader in their eyes, in their heart...or against the one they feel will let this country spiral even further than it's heading. The voter I'll never respect is the one who's voting against the black or against the woman or against the person who in their eyes is imperfect.
-nab