<Why is that prominent Dem/liberal leaders that are effective turn out to be complete douches like Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton. And those that real good guys like Jimmy Carter and Obama are impotent and ineffective?

["Why is that prominent Dem/liberal leaders that are effective turn out to be complete douches like Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton. And those that real good guys like Jimmy Carter and Obama are impotent and ineffective?"]

I think you misread all four men.

But it's possible to be a good and effective leader without being a complete 6-hole.

How so? Clinton and Kennedy weren't effective? Carter and Obama aren't good men after all?

It's possible, but sadly very rare.

I think three of the four are/were brilliant men hounded by a band of nihilists. The fourth wasn't as bright as the other three, but suffered incredible wounds on a personal level at the hands of that same band of nihilists.

In both cases, that same band of nihilists is now pursuing a scorched-earth campaign against the country and the American people right now.

Many times the people least suited to lead are those that most seek it out, and vice versa.

Who's the one that's "not as bright"?

Okay, Dumbledore! :)

I don't think that's entirely true, particularly in Washington, D.C., which seems to have a life all its own.

Yeah, that is part of Dumbledore's wisdom, isn't it? But I don't think it's unique to JKR.

It isn't. The point I was trying to make is that Washington kills dreams and so much else. That city is oblivious to the needs and wants of the rest of the country they're supposed to be serving.

I remember, too, that you were a naysayer about Obama before and immediately after the election last year. Remember how we argued over the stimulus and how shocked you were when I said it wasn't big enough? I know you don't buy into what he's trying to do. That's okay; you're certainly entitled to your opinion. I, on the other hand, think 10 months in office is too brief a time to write off his presidency, particularly given the hand he was dealt on January 20th.

I qualify my statements of his presidency with "At the rate he is going. . ."

I know that.

There are times when I wish he would knock some heads and use his congressional majorities to ram things through. Then I remember his desire to bridge the chasm between red-state and blue-state Americas, and to bring us back together as one United States of America. That's a worthy goal for any president. Just ask those of us who didn't fit into Bush's 50%+1 governing strategy.

When the stimulus bill was passed, polls indicated that a large majority of Americans were willing to give him a couple of years to turn around the economy. Republicans have been whittling away at that grace period since before the man even took office. Remember how I used to point out to you their weekly memes (sometimes more than one per week), and how they were always trying to find something - anything! - that would stick? We're going back to January now, buddy. Some of this stuff has been so far over the top that you just have to wonder how people can be gullible or just plain stupid enough to even listen to it, let alone believe it.