tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825516930488582601.post2602674854604772876..comments2009-02-05T18:42:23.935-08:00Andrew!http://www.blogger.com/profile/02170615547522584268noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825516930488582601.post-58859828063184027762009-02-05T18:42:00.000-08:002009-02-05T18:42:00.000-08:00Gee wiz, fellas! You guys are good! Great insight! I totally agree that Obama is totally overrated at the moment, and that a real evaluation can't happen for at least a year. Time will tell, gentlemen, I'm just expressing my happiness at everyone's "hope". Just like changing the football coach, perhaps it's just that a change is all we need (If you subscribe to the idea that we need anything to begin with).Andrew!http://www.blogger.com/profile/02170615547522584268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825516930488582601.post-71692470693857114772009-01-29T08:53:00.000-08:002009-01-29T08:53:00.000-08:00Maybe there's something wrong with me. Everytime I see "Hail to the Chief," I want to read it as "Hail to the Chef," and then I immediately think of that old Snickers commercial about the old guy painting the football end zone. "That looks great! But who are the Chefs?"<BR/><BR/>As someone who didn't vote for Obama, I'm not insensitive to world reaction. Continuing with the Super Bowl / sports metaphor, I know that sometimes you just need to change coaches, or faces, or voices, to get peoples' attention back. I think the US had definitely reached that point in world affairs. Bush had little diplomatic credibility and even less leverage by the end. I think he did some good and quite a bit of bad along the way, but good or bad, he had been tuned out. That's not acceptable for a person whose job description includes pursuing US interests abroad. Obama wouldn't have been my choice, but I think it's great other nations have hopes for him. I hope he can do some good with his current spotlight.<BR/><BR/>But I also think it won't be long before reality reasserts itself. For example, Ahmadinejad recently said that Iran welcomed Obama's call for more dialogue, and that he was willing to talk just as soon as Obama apologized for 60 years of US crimes against humanity. He then delivered a long address at a Tehran University conference: "Holocaust, the West's sacred lie." The US has done plenty wrong in the last century, including some nasty wrongs to Iran specifically. But the idea that world opinion and nations will suddenly roll over and reconsider because a man with "a good tan" (per Italy's Berlusconi) is in the White House, seems a little Kool-Aidish. <BR/><BR/>If Obama is a good President -- that is, fulfills his oath of office by upholding the Constitution and faithfully executing the laws of the US, and seeks to pursue and advance US interests -- he will pretty much inevitably piss off a lot of world opinion. If the world loves him too much, I'm not sure it will be an unqualifiedly good endorsement.NJRhttp://www.tiesenga.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825516930488582601.post-44655812318279203592009-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:002009-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:00I don't know a lot of people who really dislike Obama. I think most of them are just pointing out that "Hey, he hasn't actually DONE anything, yet..." and getting frustrated with the rock-star fame. The Obama Fever around the world just seems a little vapid. Didn't we just elect the guy who made the most promises? Don't we always?<BR/><BR/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbnpRcj4RvIBarrynoreply@blogger.com