Obama’s fictitious problem with white working class voters

Essential reading in the NYT today.  Pollster Mark Mellman dispels the notion that Obama is fundamentally flawed as it deals with white working class voters. The key passage:

Mr. Gore lost them by 17 percentage points while winning the national popular vote. Mr. Kerry lost them by 23 points and the country by fewer than two and a half points. The last Democrat to win white, non-college voters was Bill Clinton, who carried them by a single point in the three-way races in 1992 and 1996.

By comparison, Mr. Obama is only two percentage points behind John McCain among these voters in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Another recent survey shows him down seven points.

In other words, Mr. Obama is faring better today with the white working class than did either Mr. Gore or Mr. Kerry.

If Obama is able to continue that sort of performance, it is going to be difficult for McCain to win in November.