1. Your other option was John McCain. McCain managed to be a Republican without being a conservative in any meaningful way. Sure, Obama is MORE of a socialist and thinks he can tax the nation to wealth, but McCain was only marginally better on fiscal issues. On social issues, McCain flirts with issues. Obama, at least, lets you know exactly where he stands on medical-care for born-alive infants and such.
2. President Obama will be an executive, not a legislator. In other words, he isn't the guy who writes the tax code, or the education code. He is influential, and Presidents often get their way, but it's not like Obama sits down his first day in office and says "OK, to hell with the IRS, lets start taxing everyone who makes more than 120K and giving to everyone who makes less!" Just ask Hillary how effective the executive branch is at reforming things like health care. And, besides, in his short stint as an actual legislator he didn't manage anything meaningful, why should we expect him to be more effective as President?
3. His socialist leanings, association with so many radicals that we have lost count, repeated statements that he will stop energy development, and entirely self-indulgent attitude aside, he seems like a pretty cool guy. For a guy whose greatest accomplishment is "Google for Government" it is pretty impressive that he managed to write two books about himself. I tried to write an autobiography in High School and only got like 5 pages!
4. We will get to learn more about him. I don't want to sound like someone from the "vast right-wing conspiracy" but we know Barrack Obama less than any President in the modern era. He has lived in a foreign country, used various names along the way, possible been a citizen of other countries (has passports, at least), has extended family in Kenya (ps, for a guy so concerned about poverty and such, you think he would start with his brother George. . .). None of it suggests that he shouldn't be President. It will just be exciting to see how the public, the media, and the Obama's deal with scrutiny. I do wonder what comedians will tell jokes about now, though.
5. But really, I am pretty upbeat about it. I can't reconcile his policies with my own, but that is the case with me and just about every politician I learn anything about. Being President is about two things more than anything else: 1. Foreign Policy and 2. Leadership (ok, and Supreme Court Appointments). And, like most people in the nation seem to feel, the past 8 years haven't really passed the test in those two regards. Obama has shown an ability to inspire, which is a fine quality for a President to have. He may have be absolutely wrong about The Surge (and pig-headed about admitting it), but he was right about starting the war in Iraq. AND, Europe Loves Him. That's not a bad thing. I don't think we should try to be like Europe (at all), but being liked is just fine. As long as Biden was wrong about an Obama Presidency inviting some terrorist calamity (and he is usually wrong), an Obama Presidency should be just fine.
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Obama seems less likely to shoot from the hip, which is encouraging. I do wonder if he can shoot, but I imagine he'll get along ok.
3. Amen. I can see there is a lot to like about the guy. He's reassuring, his wife is much better First Lady material than Cindy McCain, he rolls up his sleeves for rallies and things. Hmm...I'm sure there are other things, but those will have to do for now.
If Obama will move to the middle now that he is president I think that would be nice. Especially with Congress all "Democratized".
When he was elected editor-in-chief of his law review people thought he would kick out a lot of the conservatives, but he didn't. I guess that was a long time ago though, before he was a certified politician.
If I'm not mistaken, he is also the only EIC of the Harvard LR that didn't publish an article. He also won't release his LSAT scores. The conspiracy theory is that he was well below the usual admission criteria, a notion only supported by the fact that he came from a rather obscure college to HLS. Personally, I would just like to be able to compare his LSAT score to other people's I know so that I could think "Hey! That person could be President!"
I can't imagine that any standardized measure of intelligence would suggest that Obama was less intelligent than Bush or McCain, though.
I can't remember where he started undergrad, but he finished at Columbia.
Now that we've got a president that has done cocaine (did Bush?) I'm wondering when we're going to reconsider the War on Drugs.
I've been convinced by Ron Paul and my seemingly libertarian criminal law professor...
Yeah, President Bush, bless his heart has given more hope to presidential aspirants that anyone...except his dad was president...ok...Obama really is inspiring.
Although! Anyone notice how we had a "Jr." and a "III." facing off for the Oval Office?
You've convinced me to try and have a good attitude ;-)
Maybe it was his transfer to Columbia that was interesting.
The Obama presidency is cool! He smokes, just like James Dean.
It just really stinks that we have just forked out 100k to go to school, get a high paying job only to have it all taken away! I hope he sticks with the $250k statement and not the $100k statement.
Who are you crazy people paying 100K for a graduate or professional degree? :)
$100k? That's chump-change!
The smoking thing is kind creepy...
I understand that he tried to quite during the campaign, but insiders say he was unsuccessful. Besides, once health care is socialized, why wouldn't you smoke, right? The good news is that he did quite cocaine (he says).
I was surprised when a guy I know pretty well was telling me he is probably going to work for a national IP firm in the L.A. area. Despite his large-on-paper salary, he says his housing options will be either a 3 hour commute and a 3 bedroom house or a shorter commute and a townhouse. It made me think that some people who make 250K a year probably really are "middle class" by most of the nations standard. It also made me think living and working in Vegas is a pretty good deal.
That last comment was really by me.
Living close to where you work (or having excellent public transportation options) is worth a ton. I'd take the townhouse in a heartbeat over a 3 hour commute.
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