I want to believe Jon. I voted for him. Least of 2 evils. I want to believe.

As for Hillary, I'm not as much worried about the fact that she could play favorites with countries who give or have given millions to Bubba. Yes, that's a big concern and frankly worrisome. More of a concern is that, in my opinion, she will have her own agenda that will not necessarily be based on the best interests of our country and western democracies, but just as focused on positioning her to become president in 2012 or 2016. Sometimes those interest/decisions may converge and be the same. But sometimes they may not. And in those cases, I have no doubt Hillary will choose what's best for her first. It's her destiny to be the first female president, and if she has to wait 8 years she will, and she'll do anything/everything to make it happen. That's why Obama will regret making her Sec. State.

Jon, I wanna believe. I wish him well. The broken campaign finance promise, the Raytheon lobbyist, Hillary, I don't know man. He ain't screwing pooches yet but he's starting to eye 'em up. We need to get him out of the kennel.

I hope – since I follow your posts, that you will have at least a smidgen of objectiveness and be strong enough to criticize this guy when appropriate. Because the mainstream media (besides Fox) obviously won't. Not until the feeling comes back their collective leg.

I want to believe Jon. I voted for him. Least of 2 evils. I want to believe.

As for Hillary, I'm not as much worried about the fact that she could play favorites with countries who give or have given millions to Bubba. Yes, that's a big concern and frankly worrisome. More of a concern is that, in my opinion, she will have her own agenda that will not necessarily be based on the best interests of our country and western democracies, but just as focused on positioning her to become president in 2012 or 2016. Sometimes those interest/decisions may converge and be the same. But sometimes they may not. And in those cases, I have no doubt Hillary will choose what's best for her first. It's her destiny to be the first female president, and if she has to wait 8 years she will, and she'll do anything/everything to make it happen. That's why Obama will regret making her Sec. State.

Jon, I wanna believe. I wish him well. The broken campaign finance promise, the Raytheon lobbyist, Hillary, I don't know man. He ain't screwing pooches yet but he's starting to eye 'em up. We need to get him out of the kennel.

I hope – since I follow your posts, that you will have at least a smidgen of objectiveness and be strong enough to criticize this guy when appropriate. Because the mainstream media (besides Fox) obviously won't. Not until the feeling comes back their collective leg.

I want to believe Jon. I voted for him. Least of 2 evils. I want to believe.

As for Hillary, I'm not as much worried about the fact that she could play favorites with countries who give or have given millions to Bubba. Yes, that's a big concern and frankly worrisome. More of a concern is that, in my opinion, she will have her own agenda that will not necessarily be based on the best interests of our country and western democracies, but just as focused on positioning her to become president in 2012 or 2016. Sometimes those interest/decisions may converge and be the same. But sometimes they may not. And in those cases, I have no doubt Hillary will choose what's best for her first. It's her destiny to be the first female president, and if she has to wait 8 years she will, and she'll do anything/everything to make it happen. That's why Obama will regret making her Sec. State.

Jon, I wanna believe. I wish him well. The broken campaign finance promise, the Raytheon lobbyist, Hillary, I don't know man. He ain't screwing pooches yet but he's starting to eye 'em up. We need to get him out of the kennel.

I hope – since I follow your posts, that you will have at least a smidgen of objectiveness and be strong enough to criticize this guy when appropriate. Because the mainstream media (besides Fox) obviously won't. Not until the feeling comes back their collective leg.

I DID think Hillary was a bad idea when those discussions were first happening, and I still have some concerns about a Clinton fiefdom. But I've come to temper my concerns about all things Obama with a recognition that the man has not screwed the pooch once in two years since announcing his candidacy. Not once. (OK, once, with the “bitter” comment, but it's not like he wasn't telling the truth.) If Obama and his people, who so far have done practically everything about as well as you could do it, think Hillary can be an asset at State, then by god let's see how she does.

You know, Karl Rove was right about one instinct: The public's response to 9/11 gave conservatives a golden opportunity to open up the throttle and see how well their ideology could operate at full speed. Now we're picking up the pieces of THAT jalopy. Obama's election, and the astounding mess in which we currently find ourselves, has given us a chance to find out what his brand of moderate liberalism can do when unimpeded, and Obama obviously plans to take full advantage. My attitude is, let's see how the engine runs when he opens it up, and if it doesn't run well I'm sure the country will let him know about it.

On the other hand, the messiah-worship of this guy – especially from the mainstream media – is getting outta hand. Bottom line – he's a politician (Read: Be weary, be very weary) . He's already made some dubious decisions – from breaking his promise on campaign financing, to choosing Hillary as Sec State. Jon – I distinctly remember you agreeing that choosing Hillary as Sec State is a really dumb decision so I know we agree on that. He's a smart guy so I see his intentions – keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Genius. How could Hillary possibly run against him in 2012 after being in his cabinet? He just neutralized her, right? Not so fast Barack. Hillary is in business for one thing only, Hillary Inc. And Hillary Inc. comes with a lotta baggage called Bubba. I get the feeling he'll regret that choice. I'd be interested to know why you agree that it's bad as you made the comment but never explained your reasoning.

And he announced that “petty boomer-era politics are over” and he'll “set aside childish things”, as you wrote. So for chief of staff, he chooses a guy who once sent a dead fish to his opponents in the mail and has told Republicans publicly to “Fuck Off”. Another bad choice, not exactly in the spirit of his message.

Overall, I've always been clear that I hate most politicians as I feel it's human nature to be corrupted by power and politicians are ones who voluntarily dive into pools of power. Most succumb. But I have to vote for someone, so I voted for him. Unlike Rush, I wish him success and hope he doesn't succumb. For the most part, he's doing well but it's two days in for crying out loud. If the media keeps making him a demi-god and getting “tingles up their leg”, I'm gonna have to get rid of my TV and limit my news exposure. Because bottom line, he's still a politician.

As Mr. T might say, there's been a lot of jibba jabba about Obama's speech and how he didn't strike an exultant tone. From my vantage point of the speech (i.e., family room sofa) I was glad he didn't sugar coat anything. Things really suck right now and for him to talk about idealistic themes in a time of real crisis would have been wasted.