Reply #15: I voted for O. I read his campaign website, where his plans on the

[Honeycombe8]

various issues were spelled out in detail. I paid particular attention to his health care reform plan. I also paid attention to Hillary's, since their plans were so similar.

It's an insult (as you know) to say that we voted for Obama because he's cute and gives good speeches. I voted for O for a lot of reasons, but not one of them was because he's cute. That he gives good speeches was one of many factors: Communication skills are critical when you're President; the ability to get ideas across, to quell fears or inspire are all skills that are extremely helpful for leaders.

But the qualities that also mattered were intelligence, education, personality, knowledge, political experience (I would've prefered another 2 years, but I had to take him with the 8 years he had), political savvy, ability to select staff, ability to direct a large campaign and handle the millions of dollars connected with it, debating skills, general direction he wanted to take the country, his health care plans, and his environmental concerns (he was one of the few candidates who gave the environment a front and center place in his campaign).