I am surprised, Richard, and it seems to me you may have read the article with some prejudgement.

His method of negotiating and bringing about unification from diverse sides IS an operating policy. And it should be clear from the article that for Obama to draw a hard line on this issue or that issue as his token posture is not what would show people what he stood for.

It is abuindantly clear to me that his combination of integrity and cohesive, rational discourse is exactly what the last eight years of Bush, and his father, and the Regan years, have been missing.

The question of personality IS the issue for sometghing as rapidly changing as the world itno which we are heading. The short version is this: do you entrust your power to a man who knows what you want to hear about a specific issue? Or do you entrust it to a man whose integrity and intelligence and principles you trust?

The latter is far, far the more important of the two criteria. There's really no comparison. A man of intelligence and integrity, committed to unification, will carry through no matter how overwhelming new developments are.

George Bush, unburdened by intelligence and free of integrity, came in with policies and promises, and walked away from them in the first sixty days. And when something unexpected came along, he stood there looking like a frozen nanny goat.

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