Thanks for your response!

Well, obviously I've no answers, though I do have suggestions.

One would be to turn off the television and read more poetry.

The former kills empathy dead and leaves us hollow shells whereas the latter exercises our sensitivity and empathy and humanity.

No, I'm not suggesting that if only we were all poets there'd be no more war.

I am suggesting that cheap "content" (as found in television) cheapens us all and leaves us less empathetic.

how do we reach those whose minds are already made up about those "other" people? can we?

We can't, at least, not deliberately.

We can only look to our own souls and strive to be as virtuous as we can be, especially in our encounters with other people.

There's only so much we can control in this world, and none of us can change minds that don't want to be changed.

Except, of course, through spectacular acts of martyrdom, self-effacement and the like. It would seem that allowing yourself to get hosed down by the police for all to see has the potential to cut right to the consciences of people. But there will always be those who are unmoved, so what can you do?

I do believe that we're better off using our imaginations and creativity (art, drama, music, etc.) than polemical discourse.

What can I say--things are real fucked up.

In short, though, empathy, listening to other people, forcing yourself to care about people you're not naturally disposed to care about...

That's a good start.

One other thing, as long as I'm admonishing.

Don't allow yourself to get drawn into unproductive discourse.

Don't allow yourself to be baited.

That way, too, madness lies.

Yeah, I saw that.

I think he was referring to the fact that the campaign had lapsed into cruise control before Ohio and TX, trying to appear "presidential" and trying to drive home his front-runner status by simply running out the clock.

With this new controversy he had a chance to deviate from the tired stump speech while reminding his supporters why we were so enthusiastic about him in the first place while taking the opportunity to demonstrate to the country how he'd respond to a "crisis."

His complacency was challenged, which was helpful because it allowed him to shine on his terms, responding in a truly original and even (if I may say) noble way.

That's my analysis, anyway.

How 'bout you?

What did you make of it?

Would you articulate the irony, please?

It's lost on me.

Thank you for your engaged thinking, for sharing something of yourself, and for your honesty.

It's critical that we keep the discussion elevated, for all our sakes.

I'd just like to commend you, as well, for offering grown-up discourse and resisting mindless acrimony.

It floors me to see so many adults(?) unable to rise above adolescent-level, tit-for-tat dialogue.

Someone here wrote on the last thread that the question isn't whether Obama deserves to be president, but whether the United States deserves Obama.

No, I don't mean to imply Obama=Good and Hillary=Bad, but I do believe it's fairly obvious that Obama offers the country a new, nobler paradigm (what Hillary dismisses as "just words") that I, for one, am thirsting to see the country embrace.

I must confess, judging from from many of the comments I read here and at the Times as well, I'm not nearly so convinced the country is as ready to lift itself up as Obama wants to believe.

The real challenge we have, and have had, is whether we can, to use a cliche, disagree without being disagreeable.

It's dismaying that so many so readily choose to be guided by fear, acrimony, distrust, anger, pettiness, zero-sum thinking, etc.

These, in my view, are the real enemies and as they are within us all, it is incumbent upon each of us to first commit to the ongoing process of conquering our own demons before we presume to engage in futile and even antagonistic polemical contests with those who disagree with us.

Sigh.

You said it.

It's all about context.

It infuriates me that so many reduce "political correctness" to facile invocations of double-standards on the level of "How come Ice Cube can say "nigger" but I can't?"

There's just so much willful ignorance and lack of magnanimity in our society that it's no wonder all we can rally around as a nation is blowing up Arabs.

God help us all.

That Obama, despite recent setbacks, has gained as much traction as he has trying to do what appears impossible, i.e., to dispel bitterness and lift us out of the gutter, is to me, nothing short of miraculous.

Whatever happens from here on out, he's already done this nation a tremendous service.