Obama has been telling it as it is. Without health care reform Americans in general will be in increasing difficulty with costs rising above their already inflated levels. He will be well placed to continue on with the message whatever our pols do in the near future. Time and tide — and the public in general — are on his side while the Republicans are in disarray and manifesting maximum nastiness towards any who question their nonsense.

He has plenty of time to continue telling things as they really are. We are not living in the world of the Clintons who were exploited by the Republicans at a very different time and in vastly different economic circumstances. The failure to control big capital has brought us a recession about as severe as the Depression induced by a comparable lack of governmental controls to guide our economic system.

The same may well be true of the situation in Afghanistan. The easy Republican answer to terrorists has been to throw ever greater military forces against enemies indistinguishable from potential allies who are being alienated by our killing games from on high.

I will be watching with interest where Obama leads us in these and a number of other critical areas. He is one of the smartest and best informed leaders we have had in quite some time. Those who are counting him out prematurely may be in for a surprise — particularly the right wingers who are presenting themselves as our American uglies.

What do you think?
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“A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope.” (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]