Beaubear, methinks the P-vine needs to find some more chores for you to do to keep you from tryin' to pick a fight out of boredom through the long winter:>)

John and Q, I tend to not wade into the fray very often on political threads, but want to say that while I rarely share your perspectives on "what is likely to work" for the country, I often find your comments very thoughtful and value reading your perspectives.

The thing that strikes me about Obama's administration is he also values different perspectives, does not discount stakeholders because they differ with his philosophy, is aware that most Americans (and most humans) have much more in common in terms of values and definition of "the common good" than differences, and that the philosophical differences among truly thinking, caring and responsible citizens are about how those goals are best acheived.

I see him as in search of a "middle way", because that might be acheivable, and in search of a way to reduce the polarization of our increasingly diverse and fearful populace through rational process. I do not know that it is possible to be successful at that in a large and diverse country, given the propensity of most of us to be pretty irrational and emotional in our thinking, and being either unable or unwilling to recognize that we all see through distorted lenses - that our paradigms shape how we perceive reality and how we evaluate.

I hope, perhaps unrealistically, that both Congress and the American people will give him a chance to perhaps move our country and our governance toward a more workable and effective way for different interests to be heard, to have their interests validated, and to get to "Yes" in a diverse population.

Would it be so terrible to give the man a chance?