Your slaes statistics, if they indicate anything at all, Sawz, seem to support the idea that Obama is beginning to instill confidence in a bruised and battered economic community. There may be hope yet.

Doug, you do not see the very important differences between Bush's sense of what is important and Obama's, nor between their very different concepts of human decency, legal principle, or the duty of office. It is not the case that it is just one opinion versus another. Bush's indifference to economic reality destroyed the American economy, encouraged by his callous support of his "base" in their unending quest for more profit above all other criteria. Obama's efforts will be in quite a different direction. What you see, filtered by your own prejudicial bias, as pretensions of kingliness appears to others as imple dignity; and I would remind you that it was your friend Bush who thought the idea of a dictatorship was acceptable for America, if he could be the dictator, and who did more to upset the balance of powers established by the Framers (strongly to the advantage of his unary executive branch) than any other President we have had. Bush's disrespect for the press and for ordinary people was plain, while Obama, so far, has shown considerable respect for all participants in the business of AMerican life. The comparison between the two is one of wide and dramatic differences.

WHile the full scope of Obama's "change" program remains to be seen, I think it is extremely premature to accuse him of hypocrisy or double-dealing, or to start slinging your feces at a decent man who has been handed an extraordinarily difficult challenge--one, I am sure, that you would not yourself be up to addressing.

It is easy to speak in bitterness and be a detractor, but it is far more profitable to contribute constructively tot he dialogue, seeking to express positive suggestions which would improve matters rather than limit yourself to slurs.

A


A