to understand exactly what he was planning to do and to recognize that it was a pragmatic, moderate, centrist program. But listening to actual statements of policy doesn't seem to be the American way anymore. A politician can say in exactly so many words, in clear and simple English, what his policies are, and the next day the pundits will obsess for hours about the hidden message in the color of his tie, or about whether or not he lost the working class vote by asking for the wrong kind of cheese on his sandwich. That is what political journalism has come to in this country.

Salon Readers,

First of all, Thank You For Having Faith In Yourselves And Choosing Barack Obama as President Of The United States.

We must all remember that this Man has not yet formerly taken the Office. George W. Bush remains your President.

It is my opinion that the Nation and The World should rejoice that Barack Obama is not beholden to anyone. This Man has chosen the best people, in his opinion, to bring about Change in the turmoil that he has inherited.

Would you prefer an inexperienced Doctor to operate on you if you had a rare disease? Of course not. You would desire the best qualified professionals that the Lead Surgeon could find.

Barack Obama cannot push this train uphill alone, the spirit of his platform was that a United America could accomplish all things collectively. The status quo spirit remains a Force to attempt to discourage a progressive and collective spirit in America and the World. This spirit wishes to retain the economic devide, create fear and doubt, and dismantle a new spirit before it begins to correct all of the ills of the present one.

All of the complaining from the American Left is curious. Obama QUITE CLEARLY campaigned as a post-partisan (which I found very attractive), and now the Left is upset and surprised that he is ACTING like one.

There can only be two possible explanations for this.

Either (a) the "progressives" assumed Obama was lying to the American public and would govern from the extreme left once he suckered them into voting for him, or (b) they weren't paying attention to what he was saying, and they just assumed the "D" after his name made him as ideologically paralyzed as they are.

Which one is it?

"For better or worse, that leaves us relying more than ever on our Dear Leader's impulses."

That would be "for worse." Any student of history knows that too much trust in the judgment of a given leader, PLUS the ability of that leader to access the political process from the ground up, is a recipe for disaster. (The one currently playing out in Venezuela, it should be said.)

The only thing that matters are the policies. The politicians are irrelevant.

Kady

If Obama doesn't deliver, the country will be ripe for a third party.

The word democracy means nothing.

An Article V Convention, guaranteed by the Constituion, has been denied by Congress.

Lobbyists are still allowed to placed their diseased feet upon publicly owned property.

Congress continues to vote itself raises and have benefits that other americans do not have.

Both parties at the state and national level continue with archaic regulations meant to discourage the rise of third parties.

A National Referendum System (like Switzerland has) is needed to bypass the corrupt and cowardly Congress.

As an example, 99 out of every 100 calls to Congress about the bailout were against it.

Democracy ????? Go back to your dream world.

before the man has even taken the oath of office are tipping their hand:

For them, it's all about dissenting for appearances and inflating their miserable egos by telling everyone that they've been 'fooled.'

Of course, their self-righteous rants are not based in anything substantive and mostly take their cues from the innuendo of the right-wing media (indeed, ego-driven blogging makes strange bedfellows).

As other letter writers have noted, Obama's platform was always centrist and his post-partisan persona left little ambiguity about how he would govern. He is also, however, a progressive, despite efforts by the far-left to appropriate a word that has ALWAYS referred to a moderate-left, pragmatic ideology. Those ranting and raving and calling themselves 'true progressives' simply don't know what the word means or its historical basis beyond its status as a buzzword for leftists afraid of being labeled 'liberals' or 'socialists.' Progressivism, however, is not socialism. The premature complainers have a word. It's 'socialism.' That's fine. There's nothing inherently wrong with being a socialist, but Obama ran on a platform of pragmatic progressivism which is a distinct approach to policy and governing.

With that said, don't suggest that progressives were fooled because you either:

(a) failed to do your research

(b) can't handle minor disagreements over policy

It's childish, ignorant, and reflects poorly on you.

It's important to keep an eye out on who Obama is appointing to secondary leadership positions. Obviously, he wants to avoid the mistakes of the Clinton transition by initially surrounding himself with experienced hands. However, he is also creating a 'farm team' of more left-leaning appointees who, in a few years, will have the administrative experience to effectively take charge.

As always, Obama is thinking long-term, and to achieve that end, he is not afraid to piss off the armchair strategists and moralistic ideologues in the short-term. After all, he did it all through the election, and reality has given him no reason to start listening to the 'advice' of internet bloviators.

Readerreader expostulated: " Palin strikes me as a competent state administrator, and I assume she could do the same at the federal level."

Bad assumption! The woman is an ignorant boor, ignorant (beyond rehabilitation short of a brain transplant) and a Christian fundy extremist. (Which automatically means her decisions at the federal level would be terrible if in any position of power).

AK governor, having lived in Alaska, isn't saying a whole lot. I'd warrant it isn't anywhere on a par with being Prime Minister of Barbados - where I also lived.

But hey, yes there can be room for her somewhere on the federal level: mayhap chief administrator in charge of cleaning the assorted federal agencies carpets, and kitchens!