Thank-you for taking the time to write thoughtfully. Your comments are insightful, and helpful to me because the political noise has gotten so loud, that it is hard to see the records clearly. I agree with you that what you describe is "experience," and I hope that she is still working with groups like yours for these important causes. Certainly these were gains that the country saw during those years--and gains that are still important to maintain and to improve on today. I think it's time for meaningful childcare credits for working mothers. This is a necessary addendum to the Welfare Reform. Working families are struggling so much in the current economy, and things only look like they're going to get worse before they get better.

I hope also that you don't take Obama's comments about Reagan as admiration. Saying that these ideas have "played themselves out," is an important clue. As we have seen in this cycle, anything can be twisted out of context. I read his comments to mean that the optimism was good, the ideas--no comment on whether they're good or bad--they aren't good for us now. The country needs a new direction from the ideas of Reagan. Yes, it was an attack on the Clintons, but historically I think he's right that the impact of Reagan on conservatives has been more lasting (look at all the conservative candidates trying to imitate him--including Bush). I see the Clintons as doing what they could to clean up Reagan's mess. The impact of deregulation on the environment, for example, has had lasting repercussions. The spillover from Reagan was NAFTA and the moving of jobs overseas. It's time now to not only "react" or "contain" the ideas of Reagan--but to radically shift into a new gear. To operate on the same scale as Reagan, but to shift the nation meaningfully--lastingly to the left. I think he's right that we're ready now and that it's time for new ideals. A better paradigm. (Even conservatives I know realize he wasn't completely pandering them, because he gave the positive adjectives leading to the punch line: that's over. It's done. It's been played out. True conservatives never talk about Reagan this way. For Bush et al the days of Reagan will never ever end. Obama's not so simple-minded as to agree with them, nor to be nostalgically looking back. He's attacking Clinton, yes, and also attacking Reagan. If he wants to win it's what he has to do. And if he's correct, and if the left wants to win, we all have to shift away from Reagan, not backwards, but in a forward-leading vector.)

Your comments, I will say though, have helped me. I'm going to try not to watch television news even more than usual during this election cycle. I get my news from newspapers, from NPR, from magazines, from salon. That's enough news for me. I see too much of an agenda in the television networks especially to pit one candidate against the other. I don't like the 24-hour a day news channels either that are always trying to push an agenda--currently it seems to be the trouble brewing with Iran. In this election, I need to remember that we're lucky to have more than one good candidate this year that we can be proud of, who has worked very hard to get where they are. The television reporters are going to keep hounding Bill Clinton about Obama, and Obama about Bill Clinton. The more fights they can pick between them, the better it is for the news networks. I'm not sure how much it helps any of us though.

I'm supporting Obama in the primary because my heart and conscience lead me in his direction right now, but if Clinton picks up the nomination, I will vote for her in the general election. Most of us are on the same side (since the candidates themselves are similar on the issues) even if we're focusing on a different candidate to lead the way.

peace.