By Dave Lindorff

Bill Clinton was the worst thing to happen to the Democratic Party
and to progressives since that racist warmonger Woodrow Wilson won the
presidency and dragged the US into the utterly pointless and incredibly
bloody First World War.

Clinton, by posing as a progressive, confused and undermined, and
ultimately betrayed the liberal/progressive wing of the party,
shattering what was left of the New Deal coalition and leaving the
American left adrift and riven by the conflict between those who
thought the Democratic Party was the only viable vehicle for
progressive reform and those who thought it was hopelessly in the grip
of corporate interests.

Barack Obama offers the hope of bringing that era of debilitating confusion to an end.

To be honest, Obama, you lost me when you voted for the PATRIOT Act reauthorization in 2006. You lost me again when you voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendment in 2008. And you lost me every single time you voted for yet more war funding.

Don't even get me started on your vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

I cast a ballot for you in November, but I just can't share in this moment of collective euphoria over your election.

So, if your transition team really wants feedback on "where President-Elect Obama should lead this country," here's a Top Five list:

I saw in him the quality of leadership that would implement policies for the good of the nation as a whole and deal with the issues, no matter what they were, with honest forethought and integrity.

And I saw a man, who, through confidence in his beliefs, pride in his country and fatih in the people, allowed a nation to hope that we could make a change, and inspired us, to believe in ourselves, to work together to achieve the goal of unity and to celebrate the diversity that makes us the UNITED States of America.

I,m voting for Obama for 3 reasons mainly. Who-ever becomes President must deal with countries that have no love for us and that will take a cool calm level headed person thats willing to listen to both sides not a hot-head with a temper to get anything accomplised.

No.2 is McCain wants to privitize and do you young people realize what that means you will be responsible fully to now take care of your parents physically and financially. If programs are dropped that Democrats have worked so hard to acheive that leaves no-where for all the resposibilitys to fall but on the young generation.

No.3 To get his financing for his health care plan he intends to make cuts on social security and disability, again where will the costs go to the young people.

I am voting for Barack Obama because I have hope that he "gets it".  I know that he is more centrist in his economic beliefs than I am, but I believe that he is the person who will make needed changes to the status quo of trickle down economics that was begun with the policies of Reagan in the 1980's.

I am voting for Barack because six years ago, Paul Wellstone and other Progressives in his family and employment lost their lives in a plane crash in Minnesota.  May they rest in peace.

I am voting for Barack because of the nastiness of John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the various Republican groups who are spouting hate in their tv ads as I write this.

DISENCHANTED AND DISGRUNTLED DEM, since the 2000 election was stolen. A 'political junkie' but armchair observer, with a 'give G the benefit of the doubt', up until after his 2001 Inauguration and my Layoff from a Fortune 500 Company after 10 years, when he came out promoting A Social Security Privitization/Ownership Society/Criminalization of Seniors for Crossing Our Borders for Cheaper Prescription Drug Costs/Schemes!!! Then came his 'Shock & Awe'/'Mission Accomplished' Campaigns for 'WMD', 'No Wait! Osama Dead or Alive O Never Mind'/ 'Democratization of Iraq'! Then, I BECAME REALLY STIRRED and kind of 'RAD&#39 as I observed THE DECONSTRUCTION OF AMERICA ON EVERY FRONT ~ FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC? I decided to join a Washington Protest March in Sept 2005 ~ a throng of hundreds of thousands of Americans of every Hue and Stripe ~ & after 'The Katrina'/'Atta Boy Brownie Debacle'!

The question of supporting Sen. Obama comes down to A) Political philosophy, B) Leadership style and C) Image (for lack of a better word).

I admire and respect Barack Obama's political philosophy. It speaks to inclusion and the raising up of the less fortunate in America. It is a politics of emotional and cultural courage that asks people to respect what they may not understand on the basis that we are all in the same boat together. That we all have a stake in seeing everyone succeed and that our collective fortunes as a nation depend on the chance for all people to excel. All boats rise with the tide, so to speak. The Republican Party doesn't seem to get that. They practice a politics of division, of fear; of smallness. And I’ve had enough of it.

It's simple:  http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Marriage, Divorce, and the Presidency 

Marriage as an institution prevails in this country, though more than half of our marriages end in divorce. That sad outcome is far more likely when the chemistry of falling in love clouds our attention to compatibility, loyalty, and a shared vision of life.

There was a lot of fear about the beginning of 2000 as being the
"end" due to Y2K.  My fear that the end was coming was because of
who we got in the White House - GWB!  And I was right.  He
has practically destroyed this country.  I live in a rural, poor
state (WV) that is predominantly registered Democrats, but for the last
two elections, it has become a red state due to lack of education, and
driven by GW's and the rest of the repug's fear tactics.  I feel
as if I've been holding my breath since 2000 and now with Barack Obama,
I may finally be able to catch my breath.  He's INTELLIGENT, calm,
assertive, young, and knows what it is like to be "different" which
gives him empathy for others who are different.  He also opposed
the war in Iraq which I also did (I grew up in the Viet Nam era and as
result am a pacificist.)  I don't agree with everything Obama