I don't feel threatened or marginalized at all, dc_dux. I am enjoying the spectacle of this once in a lifetime event. Don't get me wrong, the politics are very important. If I had to narrow it down to a word it would be "astonishment". I think the fact that he is our first black president is compelling on many levels. Not the least of which is the befuddlement of foreign nations both ally and enemy - fantastic! - and serves to embellish my opinion that this country - this Place - is the most dynamic, most dazzling, most frustrating yet most amazing achievement that has yet sprung from man's imagination. I don't care much for hard politics; I'm here for the entertainment. I do look forward to watching how his foreign policy tactics will play out; presidents come and go, but I think the interests of this country will stay the same for a very long time. So, same bus - different driver. He's got jews all around him - jews made him president after all - so he'll do the right thing regarding Israel. He's liberal, but so what. He won't do anything too radical like drive the country into isolation or turn his political opponents into soylent green. He's living proof that America is a thriving, healthy democracy, albeit with post-nasal drip at the moment. People thought BushHitler was never going to leave office, but those people were nuts to begin with. I think the cult of personality thing is hilarious; people get so defensive if you say anything bad about him.

So, on with the show.

powerclown, if you think the cult of personality thing is hilarious now, you should have been a liberal in late 2001/2002

I call it as I see it. Humor as a defensive response.

One post may be good for a laugh....five in a row in the course of a day is an obsession.

You can write off his political capital as a cult of personality. It doesnt change the facts.

But in any case, don't quit your day job. You're just not that funny.
-----Added 27/1/2009 at 01 : 03 : 53-----
***
I would expand the question....is the democratic party becoming the face of America?

Politics is cyclical. The question is how long between cycles.

Polling suggests that the democratic party has reached (or returned to) a level of support that Republicans have never seen.

From a recent gallup poll:

http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/...8jiszl7rvg.gif



If you include those "leaning Democrat", it represents the first time in a generation that a majority of the voters identify with one party.

http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/...9y0_oqgcqa.gif

http://www.gallup.com/poll/113947/De...y-Largest.aspx

Get it while its "hot""?

"Hot" appears to be a mandate of the people unlike any in a generation.

Whether that 12 point margin between party identification will continue to inch its way higher year by year will depend on successes and failures of Obama and the Democratic Congress.

Voters will judge the results. The challenges are enormous and the American voters can be fickle.

But I doubt that many will be influenced by the inane rhetoric of the Limbaughs and powerclowns who, at present, are obviously on the outside, looking in.

I'd like to throw my support wholeheartedly behind this post for it's pretty much what I wanted to say yesterday, but didn't.

Much like the bluster and vitriol I heard coming from the office across from my cube this morning - it's annoying, but once the shouting's over, it's nice to realize that a certain ilk of folks are feeling disenfranchised now. This, to me, is a very positive happenstance.

None, I hope. I'm hoping he meant what he said and said what he meant.


Don't get me wrong I'm all for working together but he's right he won, the GOP lost. We've tried it the GOP way, damn near unopposed, for eight years. Look where that's got us. Time to change the plan.

The Democrats have had control of the House and Senate for several years now and have done nothing but rubber stamp everything that passed by them and that's supposed to be the GOPs fault? We will see how Obama fares in keeping his promises. That will be the true face of the Democrat Party.

I thought it was two years. And yes, congressional Democrats have been relatively timid. Which is why it's nice to see that Obama seems to have the stones to tell congressional Republicans when to stfu, albeit in more tactful ways.

I agree that Democrats caved on war funding and fisa reform...after seeing every attempt to amend those efforts blocked or vetoed....so yeah, the GOP should take a hit and share the blame.

The rest.. "done nothing but rubber stamp" is a bit of short term revisionist history if you consider the reforms that were implemented by the Democrats in the last two years and the obstruction by Senate republican fillibusters on countless others.
-----Added 27/1/2009 at 06 : 31 : 07-----
The challenge of having the "bigger tent" is that the Democrats have a far greater diversity of views and opinions within their constituency...both in the WH/Congress (from the conservative "blue dogs" to the ultra liberal wing- with Obama somewhere in between) and the among the voters.

But I'll take the big tent over minority status anytime.

A year and a half to two years is now several? Good to know. Personally I'd call that several months not several years.

With the way our system works a 51-49 advantage is not control. Throw in an illness and an independent caucusing with the Dems and campaigning for the GOP candidate and there no way I'd call that control. The only thing the Dems could realistically do is shut down the government. Which is pretty much what the GOP and Newt did back in the early 90's. Shutting down the government until you get your way at a time when we're engaged in two wars and what amounts to an economic clusterfuck doesn't sound too good for the overall benefit of the nation.