If Obama is robbed of this election (and at this point, it would have to be robbery), America doesn't deserve him. And I think I'd have to move to Canada. Or Minnesota, which is almost the same thing.

I'm up to here with legacies.

I found the ad spot touching and I really did not expect to. Interspersing the stories of actual people and their specific financial challenges was extremely moving, and kept it from being the standard stiff, dull political fare.

The story of the 72-year old "retiree" who was forced to go work at Walmart to help pay for his wife's medication made me tear up as well, probably because I've watched my own grandparents go through something very similar--Likewise the story of the special needs teacher who works a second job to make ends meet.

What's powerful about these stories is not how they're stage managed, but that they're TRUE. I'm a single adult with no dependents and I've also had to work two jobs to keep from 'slipping under' from time to time. I've met people who have slept in their cars or crammed two families into a single studio apartment when the cost of rent got too high. I have friends and family members who simply forgo medical care and prescription drugs that they really need because their insurance doesn't cover it.

Just about every other industrialized country on earth provides free health care, free/low cost college education, and a basic safety net to help people who have fallen on hard times keep a roof over their head and food on the table....why is it so radical to suggest that we do the same?

Really well put Astrid Jane. I was covering too much ground to do justice to all that worked in the Obama ad. My one worry was that it was too dark -- did he need a story of someone who triumphed thanks to friends, family, good government? But, frankly, it is pretty dark out there, even here in lovely SF, where many feel, and probably are, quite vulnerable. Thanks for filling in those blanks.

Yes, Clinton has a legacy of peace and prosperity. If he didn't, Obama wouldn't have him campaigning for him -- especially during these closing arguments.

Relax, Obama will have his own legacy -- and I fully expect that he'll be a great president. But there's nothing wrong him also wanting to build on the positive things that Clinton did as president. Honestly, the reports of Pres. Clinton being more reluctant than Sen. Clinton of jumping on the Obamawagon seemed overblown to me. At the least, the motivation seemed misplaced.

You don't have to like Bill Clinton to appreciate the fact that he worked his ass off for eight years standing up against the GOP machine and actually doing a fair amount of good. So perhaps he was a bit rankled that the presumptive nominee was trying to appear above the red-blue divide to the point of lumping the Clinton years and the Bush years together a little too easily. The contrast in competence and priorities has been stark.

Thankfully, in the general election, Obama has very smartly balanced looking forward to new ways of doing things as well as making an appropriate contrast between 8 failed years of GOP governance and 8 years of successful Democratic rule. He's getting the best of both worlds -- and in this time of crisis, I think Americans don't mind one bit being reminded that it wasn't that long ago that we had competent leadership and the future before us...

In any case, these are guys with pretty sizable egos -- but they are each accomplished in their own way. I'm glad to see that they can appreciate that in one another and find a way to work together rather than simply be threatened. When Obama's president -- and I am confident he will be -- there are very few people alive who will understand what it's like to be in his shoes. Bill Clinton can be an excellent asset to a successful Obama administration.

Peace.

would a major network give Tom DeLay the time of day? Isn't he still currently under indictment?

I was moved by the same things you mentioned, but my favorite part of TDS was when Obama grabbed the presumably 'white' hand that was inching over toward the Rep side. I didn't realize he had that much humor! It was charming.

Ellyllon, his sense of humor scares me a little -- are allowed to have a president this clever and playful?

Drewonimo, thanks for your generous vision.

It seemed to me too that Bill was really enjoying Barack, as well as the moment. And you're right, he really did literally (as Joe Biden would say) almost fell off his chair laughing that time. That was really heartwarming.

Delay is a cockroach. I hate saying that because I don't believe in dehumanizing people and in fact, feel a bit ashamed having blurted that out, but I'm sorry, that's what he suggests with his undignified, gutter politics.

And Wasserman-Schultz was fabulous; smart, charming, hardnosed, sexy.

And your buddy Chris is bizarre. Nothing new there, just had to toss that in.

To end on a high note, though, I have to say I've come close to tears many, many times of late when I stop and take in the moment. I can't believe this really might happen.

Barack Obama is not a Savior, but good Christ but he's special.

Anyone who can't see that is to be pitied, as one who can't recognize the sublime beauty of a gothic cathedral or the like.

McCain becomes smaller by the day as he, in response to the Obama movement, offers nothing but whining and cynicism and sniveling and furious desperation.

I really hope he can manage to recover some dignity in these last days, for the sake of the country. Has he no sense of moment?

Kerry had no sense of moment: "Let the healing begin," he intoned.

What will McCain say?

It brings to mind old money, old shrubbery (in a Dubya sense) and mint julep.