Reply #20: Let Me Respond... [View All]

[Steely_Dan]

First...thanks for your well thought out response. I appreciate when people actually take the time to "reason" instead of shooting from the hip.

I will not defend Ms. Clinton. Everything you have said I think is in large part, quite accurate. The way she has managed her campaign does not give me a lot of confidence in her leadership ability or style. I am not a supporter of either Obama or Clinton.

As far as Ms. Clinton's vision of the Democratic Party goes, I agree with you. I do not see her (nor her husband) as a "progressive" in the traditional sense. So, no argument there.

My issue (as you are well aware) is exactly what you stated...can Obama deliver? While there is no evidence that he can't...there is no certainty that he can either. As a side note: ask yourself what kind of damage Obama can do to all of those that he has brought into the process if he couldn't deliver. Would they become as cynical as I am about the process?

But back to the main point...
The Obama "phenomenon" (like most phenomena), tends to take on a life of its own. That is a little frightening to me. When it takes on a life of its own, it is much more difficult to know what is real and what is not real. You will excuse my cynicism, but I cannot see him successfully bringing such a divided country together to accomplish the rather long list of promises that he is hanging his campaign on. This does not mean that he is a "bad" man...it simply means that I am not sure (Chicago politics not withstanding) that he can stand up to the vicious divisions that exist in our government.

Finally...an efficiently run campaign does not guarantee that you will have an efficiently run government.

Look...I am impressed with Mr. Obama. But these are tough times...maybe the toughest. Wasn't this the time to START the pendulum swinging back to the left? Was this really the time to make Presidential history? Wasn't this the time to get our bearings back and start to turn this ship of state around? Change does not happen overnight. I wish it did...but it simply doesn't.

Don't fool yourself...whoever takes the Oval Office...THERE WILL BE CHANGE. So, "change" doesn't mean much to me. There will be change. After all, all politicians run on "change."

Thanks again for your post.

-P