Reply #12: Couldn't agree more...for now

[Jazz Ambassador]

I've voted in 7 presidential elections, and 2008 was the first election in which I could pull the lever for the Democrat without holding my nose. (It was also the first time the candidate I had voted for in the primary had gone on to win the nomination.) My feelings about Obama are mixed but, even after 24 months that have included as many failures and betrayals as triumphs, I'm still prouder of my vote for him than for any of the DLC good ol' boys (Clinton, Gore) or feckless liberals (Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry) the party has thrown up (in both senses) in my adult lifetime. But if he doesn't start leading soon -- not just governing, but leading -- I'll be holding my nose again in 2016, just as I did when I cast my first vote in 1980 when that other Dem prez who couldn't lead for squat was up for re-election.