Reply #108: I can't help but be reminded...

[Spider Jerusalem]

of the words of a Texas Democrat who said 'I try not to fall in love with too many men, but this is the bst damn one we've had since John Kennedy.' JFK, like FDR, spoke to our ideals, and told us not that he would make the country better, but that WE would, if we could find it within ourselves to do so. Obama shares this idealism, this idea of America as a thing far from perfect, yet endlessly perfectible through the combined efforts of citizens who believe in what America COULD be.

(And as a random aside: I think the essential difference between Senators Obama and Clinton, in terms of political style, can be most succinctly summed up as the difference between artistry and craftsmanship; FDR and JFK were artists, Truman and LBJ were craftsmen. The complementary nature of these political styles--the inspirational artist, who fleshes out a broad theme, gives it shape, and form, and direction, and the nuts-and-bolts craftsman, who focuses on the detail work and polishes the finished product, might seem to suggest a natural fit for Sen. Clinton as Obama's running mate; it is a possibility, I think, but I remain convinced that there are other and better choices.)