Well, I don't know many Democrats who still believe the U.S. is "best in the world," but neither do I know many Democrats who think we're so horrible that we should spend the rest of our lives in sackcloth and ashes.

I think we have two good candidates in Obama and Clinton, and I'd be happy with either, or with Edwards. I just don't see the doom and gloom that some Kucinich supporters predict now that their man has withdrawn. Of course, I don't believe that it's possible for a democratic govenment to accomplish more than incremental change, and I'm not hoping for a revolution.

Being an optimist, I don't even see anything horrible about the leading Republican candidates. I just don't believe that any of these people are intent only on screwing the world and the American people (I did believe that of George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon - and I was proven right).

And I'm overjoyed that my despicable congressman, John T. Doolittle, had announced that he won't run again (because he has to deal wiht an ongoing criminal investigation against him, I suppose). Now I can vote in a Democratic primary again - I have been voting in the Republican primaries to try to get somebody other than Doolittle, but now I don't need to bother.

-Joe Offer-