"Bitterness"

The present controversy over Barack Obama's comments about the plight of working class people leaves me a little cold. My wife was at one of his events in Indiana, and she reported that there was a standing ovation when Obama gave his little riff on the subject. I heard the riff the next morning on a newscast and I thought it was fine. When I heard there was a controversy about it I went and read the quotes and saw how if you worked at it you could twist this into an anti-God, Guns, and Nativists rant. I think his essential point is sound, people are stressed about the economy and people who are stressed tend to be a bit more disagreeable. I'm religious, I agree intellectually with the basic right to bear arms (though in real life I'm in favor of reasonable restrictions), and I am in favor of a secure border, and I was not bothered by his statement.

I don't think Obama is a believer in the evangelical sense of the word, but I also don't think he's some Muslim manchurian candidate or the antichrist or whatever. He's just a typical agnostic Ivy grad going to a liberal church. I don't think he's atypical among our recent leaders (see Bush, George H.W.). I don't think he's exceptionally harmful to the church. Actually, after W. getting a little air between the Church and the Republican party can only be good for the reputation of the church.

I don't think Obama is going to take away all the guns. That's not a fight that's going to advance the Democratic party and right now the Democrats want more than anything else to be in power. The NRA won't get to it's goal of an AK-47 under every pillow.

On Immigration I expect something not far from what El Presidente Bush (and McCain) really wanted. It's going to happen no matter which one we vote for. To Obama's point, immigration would be a lot easier to deal with if joblessness had not been on the increase for the last 30+ years.

If we fix the economy and get a healthy dose of regulation to keep it fixed, Obama will have been a success.