So how do all you Democrats feel about Barack Obama as your candidate? There is little chance for a Clinton recovery at this point. The indicators in Wisconsin, which should have been prime real estate for the Hillary campaign, were all in favor of Obama. Even women voted for him at a 50% clip. Are there any of you that are a little weary of a shopper’s hangover? Is there a little doubt in any of your heads? Don’t get me wrong. Obama seems extremely bright and he is an exceptional orator (that goes without saying). He is one of the most liberal Senators in Congress, that is good, but how will he lead? We have no track record in that category. We know what we will get with Hillary and we really didn’t want to go down the road to division and gridlock, which was the path of that ticket. We pushed aside Edwards and that was unfortunate and we didn’t even give Biden a shot. That was the biggest shame. As the Democratic nominees were whittled down to two, I have no doubt that Obama was the correct choice. Now it will be Obama versus McCain and come on, there really is no choice between those two. As McCain gives speeches as if he is addressing a group of thirteen year olds and uses the phrase “my friends” half a billion times, his exit can’t come fast enough, never mind having to endure that for four years. So how does President Obama sound? You remember looking through those old encyclopedias or history text books and they have all those pictures of the Presidents and when they served? Imagine as you scan the portraits of what he Native peoples called the “Great White Fathers”. Adams…..Monroe……Buchanan…..Garfield….Teddy Roosevelt….Truman…..Nixon….and then bam…..Obama!

Obama is change like this country has never had before. There has to be more people besides me that has a glimmer of uncertainty about the choice. It is not based on race or age but instead on how effective he can be. It is not the same feeling I got as Bush was given the White House in 2000. I knew that would be a disaster. I just didn’t think people would be stupid enough to vote for him twice.  If Obama’s ability matches his charisma, the sky is the limit. Obama has more potential in his first syllable than Bush has in eight years of his presidency. I’m on board, I’m invested. And as Obama would say himself, I’m hopeful.

____________________________________________

Jeff Flake (R) Representative has been running an anti-pork campaign in the House. Because he criticizes both Democrats and Republicans he is being punished by his party for not following the party line. With the national debt over $9 trillion we need more Representatives like Flake. His situation is detailed in a current article in the Christian Science Monitor:

Capitol Hill ‘pork’ reformer faces uphill battle