Re anger at the pResident: The only thing that would have changed any of this would have been

[patrice]

President Al Gore in 2000 and even then that would only have meant that there would be one less war on the invoice.

I'm just about done with Obama now too, but more important than my feelings about him, negative or positive, is what it's going to take to get *us* through this and if that means playing along for what it's worth while something new, something of our own, gets on its feet, then so be it.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. "pResident". Is that a typo?

[liberal N proud]

2. I don't think it was

It was meant to be pR

[patrice]

3. To the extent that he was one of those who were picked for us to vote on, he is a resident

and we are the land lords.

[logosoco]

4. Here is how I have been looking at the situation...

in my household, I have my 52 year old husband , my 18 year old son, my 15 year old daughter. We live with 3 dogs and 2 cats. My 19 year old daughter, her 20 year old boyfriend and their 2 kids (ages 2 and 5 months) moved out a year ago but they are here a lot and are moving back in temporarily in a month. Now, if I were to leave here for, let's say, 2 weeks, I can only imagine the things that would go on. The house would be a disaster and that would just be the parts I can see, no telling what they did and covered up.

So, those 2 weeks I was away would be like the long horrible years we had with bush/cheney. And there is no way I would be able to clean the house and get things back to the way I like them in the next two weeks. Probably the pets would NEVER be the same.

SO, I never really expected Obama to get things fixed up in 8 years. I wish he could have realized that he had a good chance to fix things but has been slow out of the gate.

Maybe I am still a little giddy that we have a president from my generation. I know it has been a year now, but I still am very, very glad bush is gone and we never have to worry about cheney being president EVER!

[patrice]

5. It's just that there has been ***NO*** concrete sign that he is in any way shape or form what

I and some others think this country needs.

It is as Hillary said; he has a speech.

The fact is, we are talking about ANOTHER guy who does not understand what it's like to be us. His childhood aside, he and Michelle have been on the fast track tooooooooo long and nothing he does or doesn't do as president will ever affect Malia's and Sasha's lives for the worse. He disagrees with how Progressives and Liberals understand things and that quite simply DOES NOT MATTER.

And if he doesn't get re-elected that doesn't matter to him and those who put him there either.

All I have left is my support and my vote.

[bigtree]

6. I'm not sure Al Gore would have been much different

He's a populist out of office, but his positions as Senator and VP were often to the right of Pres. Clinton.

I saw great progress during the Clinton years (despite good arguments against some actions), and I foresee the same opportunity with this new president to advance many planks of our Democratic agenda. That doesn't mean that there aren't major issues which the president and his administration fall short on or make worse, but we're all affected by different concerns which, I believe, our Democrats (the president included) are well positioned and most-likely to address and resolve.

I accepted that he was a centrist when I voted for him, but I believe enough in our system of government to be optimistic about affecting or modifying his positions through our legislators or by the inevitable turn of events. He hasn't moved an inch toward where I hoped he might, though. That's discouraging, I know. But our democracy still stands to be affected by our activism and our advocacy. That's why I'm never disheartened.