Randy, with all due respect ( and I think you do a good job as moderator, but as you know, in this section it's "gloves off") even if you don't like Obama he does have some qualifications to be President: a fine academic record, a Harvard Law JD, and also the fact that he taught constitutional law at one of the best law schools in the country (University of Chicago) Be fair. If one of the GOP nominees had that kind of record (and none of them did!) they would have been beating the drums about it.
It's kind of you to call him an eloquent orator, but the fact is, he is only occasionally eloquent. Bill Clinton is a MUCH better public speaker. Obama has given a few terrific speeches, but generally he is dry and analytical, which doesn't serve him well. He speaks like a professor, which of course is what he used to be.
Incidentally, I took the trouble to read his exam questions, that he wrote, and thought they were very well written. (and since I've had to write exam questions myself, I am a fellow sufferer and have sympathy, I suppose)
If you contrast Obama's resume with George W. Bush, who achieved nothing better than "gentleman's C's" in college, had an undistinguished career after that, was a drunk and belatedly dried out, and never had a job that wasn't part of the family business until he was governor of Texas, the contrast is quite stark. Obama came from a very modest background and made something of himself. Bush came from money and privilege and essentially did nothing with it.
It's also worth recalling HOW Bush 43 got elected- essentially the GOP couldn't find anyone to run against Gore, who was thought to be a shoe-in for President. Bush couldn't even find a running mate and finally Cheney was tapped as the leader of the search committee for a VP candidate. In other words, these two guys were expected to be graceful losers. Except they didn't lose. And we ended up with Cheney running foreign policy, the son of a bitch. If the good die young, Dick Cheney will live forever.
Randy, I don't have any comments about how they elect their government in the Czech Republic and I'm not interested in their comments about who we elect here. As little as we may know about our own government, they know far less about us. And frankly, I think what you did was what most of us do these days- find material that supports our dislike of people we've decided to dislike. In other words, the only thing we notice is items that support conclusions we've already drawn and decided to stick to.
One of my closest friends is a rabid conservative who hates the President. She absolutely believes he was born in Kenya, is a Muslim, sympathizes with AQ, and hates Christians. (she is a born-again Christian) Nothing I can tell her makes a bit of difference. She's already decided how she feels and everything gets accepted, rejected or distorted to bolster her already held opinions. So we don't talk about it. Fortunately, since one of her children is my goddaughter, we have other stuff to talk about. She's kind of like Lonesome Bob except she's better looking, now that I think of it.
The current President doesn't get judged fairly. That's the bottom line here, really. I don't mind crediting Bush 43 with what he did well, and he did do some things well, but also screwed up a lot of stuff. Obama is by no means perfect, but he's done a lot better than folks like you give him credit for. And, I hope, he will continue to do better.
