Holton has gotten big headlines for two things. One, the Christmas Tree Lighting bomb plot, and two, his coming down hard on Reed College about drug use on campus. He is really going after Reed.

The president's greatest accomplishment, which he ought to mention in every speech to his core supporters, is what he has done to reshape the federal judiciary. Nothing is likely to have a longer lasting impact on the interests of the people who put him in office than his appointments of federal judges.

Nearly half of his nominees who have been confirmed to federal judgeships are women; 21 percent are African American; 11 percent are Hispanic and 7 percent are Asian. Less than 30 percent of his judicial appointments have gone to white men, who hold the lion's share of federal judgeships.

In the more than two centuries since the U.S. Supreme Court was created, just four women have won confirmation to a seat on the nation's highest court. Obama nominated two of those four. He has put the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court and doubled the number of Asians who are sitting on the federal bench. This far exceeds the percentage of women and minorities George W. Bush put on the federal bench during his two terms and increases the chances that more balanced federal courts will protect civil rights gains and abortion rights, and give a fairer hearing to immigration issues.

All this, and the fear of a Republican president watering down these important gains, should be enough to get Obama's core constituents to stop whining and turn out in record numbers on Election Day.