Fascinating post.

Since Obama and his team have done such a good job up until now, there's every reason to think that they will figure out a way to deal with this. But it's good to know what's happening, so that as you say, we take nothing for granted.

If it's OK with you, I'd like to post your letter on other sites, HuffPo, TPM, etc.

It sounds like your husband is having a dangerous liason with his friend. Not an affair but something at once more subtle and worrisome. It's closeness. They're on the same page.

It's not too late to do something about it but you have to put your feelings aside for a moment and try and figure out what your husband is missing in the marriage. Or better yet, ask him.

In addition to the advice you've received to go out on dates and being more spontaneous, make a list of subjects you're interested in. History, music, art literature, sports, politics, whatever. Write them all down. Then make a list of areas your husband is interested in. Any similarities? Common ground?

When you're on that date with your husband, try talking to him about something other than the kids and household stuff. The best way to be an interesting person, is to be interested in something.

Let's see.... when was the last time Diane criticized anything George Bush did, including torturing prisoners of war?

Tick, tock, tick, tock tick, tock.... still waiting.

Seriously.

Speak for yourself!

I haven't voted for these people, but it sounds as though you have.

Re: Obviously some has!

Ah, but why?

It will be interesting to see if this sort of tactic hurts the GOP or helps fire up the base.

Unfortunately it's probably true.

Still, the political scene wasn't quite as bad 40, 30, even 20 years ago. Cable and Rush Limbaugh have turned politics into a carnival of inanity.

If the LW would concentrate on finding someone to love (of any legal age) rather than someone to have sex with, he might have better luck in both departments.

While no one can deny the erotic attraction of young people, as the LW noted they are out of reach for anyone over a certain age, unless they happen to have the money to pay for their companionship. If the LW finds men his age unattractive, it's because in part he doesn't know them as human beings but rather views them as objects that don't arouse desire.

What can seem unattractive to the casual eye, sagging skin, lots of wrinkles, etc. can become endearing if one is in love with the person. For example, many years ago I dated a man who had been in a car accident in which he had gone through the windshield. As I got to know him, his scars became less and less visible and yet so much a part of him that I would have missed them if they suddenly disappeared.

The LW should stop thinking Calvin Klein ads and start looking for friendship. Any resulting sex could be a surprisingly joyful experience.

Mel's dilemma is a schadenfreude's lover's delight. The most pompous American Catholic since William Buckley is going to have to choose between the Church and sex with a Russian hottie.

Imagine the inner dialogue:

Catholic Church, sex with Oksana. Catholic Church, sex with Oksana. Catholic Church, sex, sex sex. Who needs communion? The wafers taste like styrofoam and the wine like Mogan David.

Oksana wins!

The last thing I want to do is see yet another film about the banality and shallowness of the suburbs. Is it really that difficult for film makers to come up with something original and entertaining?

Can we move on to another topic, at least?

Obama has gone from being an outsider to an insider. He seems to be in a deferring mood, when it comes to dealing with problems left to him by the Bush administration.

Just as Obama has taken the advice of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner, who are very much part of the economic establishment, it's possible that he is favoring the advice of old hands such as Robert Gates, who is most unlikely to favor prosecution of former administration officials and intelligence operatives.

This also seems to be true of Obama's relationship with members of Congress who apparently knew and raised no objection to torture. Nancy Pelosi, being the most important "untouchable" due to her who close ties to Obama on many fronts, the Rahm Emmanuel connection being the most important. As long as Rahm is chief of staff, I think we expect Obama to do what establishment members of Congress want him to do.

The most disappointing thing about Obama has been his inability to separate himself enough the DC establishment to effect real change. Perhaps as he gets his bearings he will return to his old way of thinking but it seems unlikely.

While I don't want to defend Miss California, Perez was way out of line asking the question in the first place.

Since Ms. Prejean makes no attempt to hide it, Perez surely knew in advance that she was an evangelical Christian. One has to wonder whether Perez fully anticipated she would answer the question in the negative and was hoping to get some publicity for himself and the gay marriage issue. If so, this is the worst possible way to go about convincing the straight world that gays and lesbians are grown-ups who deserve the same rights as everyone else.

With his follow-up derogatory remarks, he has probably set gay marriage back, rather than advanced the cause.