When I said "last post" on my last post, you see that I meant your second to last, right? (Unless you beat me again, in which case it's "third to last" :))

- Sorry I can't be super thorough here--I must be up in four hours--in several inches of snow and rush hour traffic to inner city Cleveland, to teach unwilling middle school students math--so here's a cursory response to your last (I think) post:

-When I said education, I meant his position on education. Again, I'm not into simplistic drivel, so it's not a "POSITION," but rather a small-p position I've gathered from watching and reading his speeches for the last two years on education, a topic near and dear to my heart. It might surprise you that I prefer his nuanced approach to education--his desire for critical thinking skills in the classroom (he has lots of good stuff to say on this) and more excellent teachers in the classroom as well. Hillary is more knee-jerk supportive of teachers' unions, which means she is tied to their tired non-merit system of promotion and general bureaucracy. I can't say enough how much we need new solutions in education--an overhaul with entirely new thinking. I am not afraid of being held accountable because I am excellent. Most teachers are not. I stand by that and can argue it more eloquently in another thread another time.

- Obama has not shifted his position on Cuba. He is generally in favor of normalizing relations with that tiny island country with whom we have been so irrational in the last 30 years. If you look at his entire body of speech on Cuba, you will find his approach more rational. I do not hold Hillary to every single word she says on the campaign trail, nor do I blame him for suggesting that he need to "prepare well" or whatever he said, when he reiterated that he would meet with Raul Castro. This was not a change in his position, and if you think it is, then you have been spun. On Cuba, from the beginning, Hillary has been consistently on the side of the inane and tired policy of old. I get the feeling she is pandering for that tiny vote in Florida. btw, I have no special interest in Cuba: I see this as representative of his different way of thinking, his fresh perspective. It struck me immediately when I first heard him asked about Cuba over a year ago that his answer, which was essentially "Reject our asinine outdated, cold-war driven policy" that this was a reasonable man.

- On lobbyists Obama is not perfect. He is better than Clinton, whom I see as a corporate candidate. She is clearly seen as entrenched and preferred by many corporations. I can find this for you more empirically for you another time, but I read something interesting about how many corporations favor her over Obama, mostly b/c she is a known quantity.

- getting legislation through Congress will be a heck of a lot easier with a supportive Congress, no? But for Hillary, she couldn't even get her stuff through a supportive Congress back in the day. While I will grant you that she has probably learned from that, if objections were related to style, then she will probably not be a whole lot more successful now than then.

- the gravy on potatoes thing: Please don't fall for the "Where's the beef" narrative that is sure to be the right-wing talking point. He has plenty of substance, though less experience. I am among those who do not discount Hillary's First Lady years, so I agree she is more experienced. I happen to value judgment over experience, and he's got that on her. The Iraq war thing is not going away for me or many others. He is right to tout that as a matter of judgment, and she was simply misleading when she said "Lots of people were making anti-war speeches then" referring to his speech in the fall of 2002. Lots of people were NOT making speeches against the war in 2002 here in America. Even regular Americans didn't feel comfortable doing that until the beginning of 2003, much less politicians running for public office. This was stifling-patriotic-police time in America, when Bill Maher was kicked off TV and the Dixie Chicks were thrown off the radio. He was brave and he was right. And he is correct in making a distinction between being against the original decision but voting otherwise (same as her) once he was in the Senate, once the decision was made.

- unsolicited point: I sympathize with HRC in being labeled the "smart girl" who somehow turns people off. Nobody wants the smarty-pants to win--everybody wants that girl to make mistakes; people are waiting with baited breath for it. I know b/c I'm that girl. I sympathize more than you know with her, but I also know the issues I get involved in in trying to achieve the great passions in my life. I always wanted to be just as smart as I am but have that cool cucumber approach that brings it home. Guess what? That's Barack Obama.

Just my opinion. Sorry--gotta go to bed. Meet you somewhere else later?