Reasons supplied by one Obama opponent in random order:
Lack of experience Typical Liberal Spend Spend Blacks Like Too Much (e.g., Oprah) / Too Biased Toward Not Concerned Enough About White Mom / He's "biracial" Pastor / image to electorate Wants to Get Out of Iraq Right Now Says he wants to invade Pakistan (or wants to?) Seems too good, really big phony
Said person:
Doesn't Like McCain and thinks he's too old Thinks the middle class is not treated fairly, including in government spending Admits some racism Strongly opposes some aspects of own church Says or knows of people who thinks are good etc. who say outrageous things now and again Thinks Iraq is a mess and no big fan of war Push comes to shove suggests saying 'might invade' is the problem Is a regular FOX viewer but watches some local news Thinks most politicians are big phonies
This is just one person from personal experience and obviously any suggestion it reflects a wider trend has to be taken with a grain of salt enough to have serious health risks. But, I will still suggest said potential voter DOES reflect an important segment of the electorate. This is the "not really mature" segment that raises various complaints that push to shove are phony or empty. It also reflects my desire often to just scream "GROW UP!" to various people. In reality, you have imperfect choices. Grow up and admit that choice "x" is the best one, especially given your complaints turn out to be a bit lame.
Lack of experience? Are there so many presidents in the last half century that really have so much more experience? Obama's upbringing, education and professional life is more diverse than some of them, quite honestly. Obama DOES honor his mom in his second book. But, he doesn't say much about either parent in speeches to my knowledge. Politicians don't tend to honor their parents per se in any given speech. The issue is clearly race. The voter here thinks he is a racist. This is helped by ignoring reality. Society sees Obama as black. Get real, here. So, in some key way so does he. Or, so I reckon. This is logical and it is immature to suggest otherwise. And, if said person was truly honest, it would be admitted.
As to blacks liking him, blacks (with cause) like Democrats, and logically a group would favor a member. Push comes to shove, many critics of the Democrats find it hard to offer a real reason to oppose them. Or, one that passes the smell test. So, they -- like most -- say tend to support abortion rights more than the current Republican candidate. But, have this stereotypical extremist view of the Democrat so cannot support them. They often are populist sorts who accept the government should spend money to help people. They are ignorant and/or ignore that the Dems are the one economically responsible of late. They oppose Iraq, but do not want to make hard decisions or feel they are "anti-America," again helped by extreme versions of the other side's actually too moderate foreign policy. etc.
Helped by various trends causing the trivial to win out, small issues can be used to underline opposition. This brings us to the pastor issue; FOX was also running with Obama's relationship with some 60s radical. A grown-up will realize that politicians as much as anyone else will have some sort of relationships with flawed individuals, and probably themselves have some flaw that is worthy of criticism. Grow-ups who complain that all politicians are phony really should, but darn if they turn out to be selective in their criticism. If some politicians selectively use things like their churches for political gain, some voters will be cynical.
Others ... they ignore the issue or don't think about it, since they aren't already against the person, and are just looking for reasons to tack on. Likewise, honest grow-ups would look to their own churches, and often would find things their clergy members etc. troubling. They would not suddenly leave their churches. In fact, some would understand the things said are actually not as bad as some outsiders would think. Or, would see the whole thing as but one thing of many, especially compared to the alternative. Instead, some whine about Dems being secular sorts, but when others clearly are not (few are), oh they find the particular church a problem. This is b.s.
But, b.s. helps to explain how things get so far.