@ adnoto

Of course I am joking.

Jesus! -- AKA Smith

THANK YOU LORD. And my most sincere apologies to you AKA Smith. Wow, my blood pressure went through the roof there. I obviously need a break. What few wits I have left are doing a balancing act on the ragged edge at this point. Please forgive me if you would be so kind.

So far, I am underwhelmed. Only one thing at this point will persuade me to vote for him. He has to do what he promised on telecom immunity.

-- AKA Smith

You mention a lack of backbone and being underwhelmed... I am not saying you are feeling this way necessarily but I am guessing that, aside from his recent cave-ins, Obama's notion of "reaching across the aisle," and bipartisan/post-partisan kumbaya talk aren't going over as well as he thinks they are. He may really feel a stong need to act in such ways but that only makes me like and trust him less.

I am just speculating but I think two things are happening. First, I think people have had it with Republicans. I think even the more ignorant Americans look around them and know that BushCo and the previous Republican controlled congress are/were bad for the country and they don't really want Obama to promise to work with Republicans. How would that be change anyway?

Secondly, I think composure and stoicism, in light of what we are suffering, are overrated in a candidate. People are looking for some sort of backbone and rightly or wrongly some people perceive moments of passion in the form of righteous anger as a telling sign of said backbone. There have been reports recently that McCain has flipped out in the past and either barked at or physically confronted those he disagrees with. I think it does show McCain is a head case and, if it were Obama, the talking heads would go through the roof with joy. Even so, I think there are segments of society, both right and left, that are "bitter" and simply pissed off and they see this guy who is all smiles and talks about unification blah blah blah, and they don't trust him. They don't trust him because they aren't looking for partisan peace. They are looking for someone who knows their pain and are as pissed off as they are about our current situation.

I don't know. I am rambling and perhaps projecting a bit but I do know one thing... reaching across the aisle and working with the people who were primarily responsible for getting us into this mess isn't a good idea. At a certain point unity is for suckers. I think people are looking for someone who says, "They were wrong -- disastrously wrong -- and, as a result, they aren't going to have much say in what happens the next several years." And, when saying that, if he happened to pound a lectern every now and again... all the better.

And that is no fantasy. It's reality. The only way to change things is within the system. You try revolution (madame guillotine is all these ruling class pricks deserve, but we will be denied that signal pleasure), and it will be snuffed out by the most powerful military in the world. -- had_enough

I seem to remember some people taking on the "most powerful military in the world" some years back and they were fairly successful as I recall. They ended up forming this country called the United States of America and one of their leading revolutionaries wrote down, so as to remind future generations, that this new tree of liberty they claimed for themselves would most likely need to be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants at some point. That guy must have been off his rocker, no?

Then, some years later, there was this guy who wore a bed sheet and refused to eat sometimes. He did alot of walking and talking and walking the talk. He didn't even bother with violence. How do you carry a gun in a bed sheet? He would just walk or sit or sometimes even lay down. As I remember it, he and his folk faced one of the "most powerful military's in the world" -- the same one that those nutty Americans faced -- and wouldn't you know it? They prevailed too. Who'da thunk it?

Then there were these really crazy bastards. These guys wore towels on their heads (some of them anyway) and farmed these pretty flowers. Many, many, many years before they had run the most powerful army in the world out of their hood. In time, people forgot about that and eventually another, more modern version, of the "most powerful military in the world" decided they wanted a piece. It was tough going no doubt and those dirt farmers had some help but they were brave and pissed and that proved to be the winning combo in the end.

That's just three examples. I guess not everyone pisses their pants at the thought of facing the "most powerful military in the world."