Prometheus 6

Yesterday morning I voted for Mr Obama, yesterday late evening we celebrated his win. This morning I took my Obama/Biden sign off my front yard. Tonight I am back to worrying about the economy.
And P6 - diabetics should not smoke.

a human being with more self control than Obama. Ever. What a gracious, intelligent being! I know he'll make me mad, sooner or later, with that same combo; but after 20 months? Huzzah!
And P6? People who don't smoke are way too cavalier about the addiction. It's very satisfying. Particularly with coffee or spirits.

a human being with more self control than Obama.

You don't think he was ripping people new assholes while he was shaving or something?

You acknowledge anger...you just don't let it decide for you. For instance, I'm not paying much attention to the forces of un-smoking.

Reality Check: Post election
1) Mr McCain is a good man who has served his country well for most of his life and would have made a Grade B- President. But he is still an old fart.
2) Ms Palin is not a raving right wing nutcase. She is a reasonably intelligent women and the only one who had real experience as a government chief executive. But she would have been a disaster as the President if Mr McCain had died in office.
3) Mr Biden was a good choice because he provides the link to congressional power brokers and to the traditional blue collar Democratic power base. As VP he needs to work behind the scenes and keep his mouth shut.
4) Mr Obama is a brilliant speaker and charismatic figure. He is also a politician of incredible ablity, perhaps even better than Bill Clinton. He will inherit an economic disaster and any precipitous changes may exacerbate the situation. I voted for him because I wanted change, but like any good American I want that change to benefit me. As mentioned above, he won by running an inclusive campaign that attracted the white blue collar vote.

I have already read that Obama supporters are worried about assassination. This is a very real threat to any President. Reagan was shot, Mr Ford was shot at, and some fool tried to fly a Cessna into the side of the Clinton White House. The Secret Service will need to be vigilant.

She is a reasonably intelligent women and the only one who had real experience as a government chief executive.

Sarah Palin is an ignorant, know-nothing bigot who is in favor of compulsory pregnancy and believes that many of us who live on the Left and Right Coast are not really Americans. Anybody who is a governor of a state and a college graduate who cannot name the countries of North America and does not know that Africa is a continent is a yahoo of the first order. If Sarah Palin ever had an original thought it would die of loneliness. It does not matter in the least whether Palin foams at the mouth or not.

Palin has a right to her opinions about pregnancy which are also the views of the Roman Catholic church among other religious organizations. And as a midwestern, rust belter I have almost gotten used to being considered ignorant by left and right coasters.
As Mr Obama said in his speech, its time for us to come together. He intends to be the president of all Americans. Its time to put aside the rhetoric of the election.

I have already read that Obama supporters are worried about assassination. This is a very real threat to any President. Reagan was shot, Mr Ford was shot at, and some fool tried to fly a Cessna into the side of the Clinton White House. The Secret Service will need to be vigilant.

My patience with folks who keep mentioning this issue ad nauseam is damn near exhausted. Let me try to put this matter into some reasonable perspective, although I doubt it will do any good. The Athenian Greeks from whom we in the west, yes, Black folks too, derive our political traditions fully understood the danger of entering the polis and engaging in what we today call politics.

Political activity has always been unsafe because it gives rise to passions that can result in violence. The Secret Service is always vigilant in terms of protecting our presidents but there is a limit to what they can reasonably do given the fact that we are a democratic republic. Our political leaders cannot and must not be sealed off from us and we cannot and must not be denied reasonable and appropriate access to them. Obama supporters, myself included, need to find something else to worry about. I am, for example, concerned about appointing Rahm Emmanuel as chief of staff given his hawkish and extreme views about Israel and the Middle East. Worrying about Obama's personal security is a waste of time.

Palin has a right to her opinions about pregnancy which are also the views of the Roman Catholic church among other religious organizations. And as a midwestern, rust belter I have almost gotten used to being considered ignorant by left and right coasters.

Are you serious? This is not about her right to have an opinion. This is about her supporting laws and policies that force other people to obey her opinions. How can you not know this fact whether you support her position or not?

As Mr Obama said in his speech, its time for us to come together. He intends to be the president of all Americans. Its time to put aside the rhetoric of the election.

President-elect Obama does not put money in my pocket, clothes on my back or food in my stomach. In fact, since I am a civilian he is not even my commander-in-chief. My opinions about Sarah Palin and the pack of ignoramuses who follow her lead has nothing at all to do with political campaign rhetoric. She and the religious right in this country are dangerous fanatical people who would prefer to have a theocratic form of government.

...which are also the views of the Roman Catholic church among other religious organizations.

The Holy Roman Church is the only group I know of that is consistent about the sanctity of human life. It is also opposed to the death penalty and the war in Iraq. Sarah Palin is not opposed to the death penalty. Most of these compulsory pregnancy fanatics are not opposed to the death penalty or, worse, war.

"Reasonably intelligent"?

Let me ask you a question, Ishmael. If someone invited you to become the lead coach of the US Men's Luge Team, would you do it? Wouldn't you say, I don't know jackshit about luge and gracefully decline?

Here's the thing. Palin ADMITTED she didn't know anything about being VP. She by all reports knew ZERO about foreign affairs and had no interest in the subject. She came into national politics knowing she was loaded with potential legal and ethical liabilities, that could've easily deepsixed her party's chances had the final reports gone any worse than they had. Seriously out of her depth, she thought national politics was just like the Alaska's local machine but with more perks.

A "reasonably intelligent" person would've said thanks but no thanks. Instead, she was a perfect example of one of those people who consistently overrate their own abilities, the excruciating screechers who show up on American Idol, the self-published poets who can't give away their books, the drunks who think they can drive safely by swerving down the road at 30 mph.

She deserved all the opprobrium she got.

And one more thing: "real experience as a government chief executive"????

Are you trolling, bro? How can anybody take that talking point seriously? Experience does not make somebody qualified. Experience is a one way (out of many) to gauge someone's qualifications, to weigh their fitness for the job. In her case, her "experience" demonstrated that she ran Wasilla like her own private fiefdom. and that after 20 months in the governor's mansion she managed to rack up embarrassingly hamhanded ethical violations, her popularity buoyed solely by windfall profits enabling her to share the wealth of Alaska's oil companies.

I say, Xigxag, that's a brilliant comment.

A "reasonably intelligent" person would've said thanks but no thanks. Instead, she was a perfect example of one of those people who consistently overrate their own abilities, the excruciating screechers who show up on American Idol, the self-published poets who can't give away their books, the drunks who think they can drive safely by swerving down the road at 30 mph.

She deserved all the opprobrium she got.

That's about all that the historians need say about her.

A black man with the name "Hussein" made it to the top. Suddenly, those boulders I see in my way don't seem so unclimbable.

I am so looking forward to this part... although he might, in a gesture of over-conciliation, decline to state his full name. The Constitution doesn't require it. Some do, some don't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IDlnJV1g3Q

A black man with the name "Hussein" made it to the top. Suddenly, those boulders I see in my way don't seem so unclimbable.

I'm also interested in watching for the flip side of this realization. There's a not-quite-spoken attitude among many white folks that the United States always was and always should be a "white" country. I'm not talking about hardcore, out-of-the-closet supremecists here. I'm thinking of people who allow for the presence and even the inclusion of black people in society. Nevertheless, their default assumption is that this is a country where white people are in charge.

Some of these people are going to reassess. If their reassessment gives us a tipping point, we might see a day when the interests of black folks actually becomes a topic of conversation.

I decided for Mr Obama at the start of the primaries and knew he could not lose once Lehman Brothers tanked ("its the economy, stupid" - bill clinton). As a result, I was able to ignore most of the rhetoric and lies told by both sides. As I stated above, Ms Palin would have been a disaster as President. What else is there to say about her?

Coach of the Luge team? LOL - no - my feet tend to get cold.