Well done, Qwerty!

I agree that what we've seen in the past two days is game-changing. We need to be prepared for the same after Tuesday, when Hillary will likely win PA (by whatever margin). Part of the appeal of Obama's change message is how broad it goes: beyond just a new face in the White House, it's about changing the way we experience politics in our culture. The ABC debate was the tipping point. The next month is critical.

Fired up and ready to go.

Thank you. Hillary tries to beat the Republicans by turning the tables on them but Obama is turning the tide. The tide of public opinion. :)

There's a decency about Obama that makes people want to protect him from the ugly sleazy world of Clinton and McCain. He seems clean, he seems trustworthy. We want to protect him, his idealism, his intelligence, from the Freakshow.

I think this is part of the dynamic here, where when the GOP and MSM attack, he just gets stronger.

Maksutov66..obviously you have been sleeping with the pigs to the right of us for too long. What we are saying about Obama is that he will not change the party in Washington, he will change our mentality. Obama said he wanted to change the mindset that got us into a stupid war and this has been the real central theme of his campaign.

What we see is "Change", "Chamge we can believe in" and what it means is mindset, mentality and delivery of our politics will be changed. Obama was a professor at University for 6 years and he is extremely smart. He looked at the American public, our media and how we take in information and like a class room he is educating us all. We have to be more aware of the issues, more aware of our world and more active in our communities because we are all effected by what happens. When the crime rate increases in the city, it will effect me in the country side. There will be more people in my small town and more builders polluting my small lakes and when the jobs go overseas it will effect me as well even though it was not my job. There will be more unemployed, more foreclosed homes and less revenue for the state. This means my tax money is thinner and things will be bad in my country home as my tax money will have to go and compensate for the loss of revenues in the city. We are our brothers and sisters keeper, if only to save ourselves.

In the last couple of years I read a more recent translation of the Tao Te Ching. The scholar who translated the work had a different take on the Tao. He contended that the actual translation of the Tao is really " Integrity" rather than "The Way". Given that definition; it would be a pure delight to have a president that was Taoist.

Thank you for your recs and comments. Masters of Tao, Zen, Game/Chess, Jijitsu, they are all uncommonly perceptive, observant, strategic, coupled with a completely calm, unflappable center, but most important, great integrity and a disposition for public service. He can be a brilliant player, a master of the art of politics, and we should be so lucky that he bats for our side. In contrast, Hillary tries to show her competence, but even as she hacks away with her kitchen utensils, she wields them with a jumpy, frenzied, incoherent, desperate mind rather than a well-honed killer instinct. Obama is already 3 steps ahead, anticipating her moves and delivering a knock-out without even a lethal weapon, his eye on November. It's like watching Jet Li fight a cement mixer. :)

His shoulders must be black and blue by now, but he keeps brushing them off. And you do notice how it's never his butt that he has to brush off.

The crap never knocks him down.

i am happy I found this site as I resonate with the ideas posted here. It is comforting, after all the harshness of MSM and the so-called debate on 4-16 to find my heart-home. I've found myself being consumed with hatred during this campaign so this site brings me back to my natural inclinations. Thank you.

wu wei: literally, action/inaction.

wu wei as a concept implies knowing both when to act and when not to act.

Qwerty

Great piece.

I agree Obama has weathered Hillary's rovian attacks. If Obama were to use those tactics on Hillary they would backfire. It would alienate her supporters and definitely fracture the democratic party more than it currently is. For all intent and purposes the negative slurs and gutter-snipe gotcha politics are part of the problem and that in part explains Obama's teflon coating; It will insulate him from the republican mean-machine.

I've always believed that when someone puts another person down it is to overcompensate for his or her own "inadequacies." Politicians are really no different, I suppose. There can be no denying it is ugly and distasteful.

However what have the republicans got? They will build on Hillary's strategy adding their tired "liberal" BS about raising taxes. They will keep reiterating Obama is inexperienced. They will call him a phony, a liar, a fraud for pretending to be a uniter, unpatriotic, an elitist, and anything else plus exaggerate it by ten and fabricate whatever else they can get away with -- anything that flies, including race.

I expect it will probably get more intense during the general election, but nothing more than what Hillary has thrown at him. And I'll bet she has more coming. Hillary is out to destroy Obama completely. She is harming herself not Obama.

Like Obama says, he will let the public decide. When people meet him, they like him. The more they get to know him the better they like him. So Iam not concerned about the GOP as much as Iam about Hillary imploding. While trying to destroy Obama HRC is self-destructing. If she is to save her legacy as tattered as it is, Hillary needs to do what is best for the country.

Obama is not weak as she suggests. His weapon is humour, wit and political acumen not to mention his oratorical gifts. McCain will not be able to counter that; it will frustrate him to no end. That is why Hillary keeps piling it on, but at her own expense. Likewise the republican party because Obama is a different kind of candidate. They do not know how to deal with him.

Although McCain sent an email linking (?) Obama to Hamas because they want Obama to get elected. Sheesh how far removed does he need to be? Now a compliment links Obama to Hamas!

The GOP and the McCain & Hillary camps insult our intelligence with this kind of nonsense. By embracing politics as usual they epitomize everything wrong with politics today. It is no wonder the electorate prefers Obama's fresh approach. Plus he treats us like grown-ups.

FYI:

Hillary slammed MoveOn in a private fundraiser. That is over 3 million members. MoveOn was created when Bill was in trouble about to be impeached as a counter to the right-wing smear machine. Obviously she learned the wrong lessons by adopting the same rovian tactics that were used against her & Bill.

If this was Obama's strategy all along, it has to be bloody brilliant. Had he spoken out early and forcefully to cut this line of attack short, he would have won hearty cheers and applause, but nary a commendation and certainly not a nation-wide outrage like we're witnessing now.

Sorry to switch religions on you, Great Zen Master, but it's Passover tonight. There's a famous Passover song called Dayenu, which means, "It Would Have Been Enough". And so, I sing...

It would have been enough to write that the debate aroused people's sympathy for Obama.

It would have been enough to write that the debate highlighted Clinton's negatives.

It would have been enough to write that the debate helped underscore Obama's criticism of Gotcha politics.

It would have been enough to write that the debate galvanized his supporters.

But to write that he planned the whole thing out, that he intentionally looked peevish and defensive, rather than forceful and aggressive, so he that would be seen as the victim of those mean moderators and Hillary Clinton...it's more than enough. It's too much.

When you try to twist every Obama negative into a positive, you sound like those Bush supporters who see genius in his Iraq strategy or the Clinton supporters we laugh at when idiotic tells us THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS...FOR HILLARY. Obama is a brilliant man, but he is neither omnipotent nor omniscient.

Plus, I don't think that Zen masters would approve of you using Tao for political spin.

Obama is winning because he is REAL!!!

What you see is inDEED what you GET!

Folks see he is authenic and genuine..he does not genuflect or grovel and get down in the muck and mire of UNPRINCIPLED politics...he refuses to.

When he looked peevish and frustrated at the debate it was because he was being CONSTRAINED. He understood he could not attack Hillary and would not attack her as it was against his principles no matter how much it cost him to take blow after blow. He refused to sink to the level of that American politics has SUNK.
He wrote all of this in his book. He has repeatedly said that politics is not a SPORT. Yet, Bill Clinton continued faces off with sports analogy saying if you do not want to get hit, don't put on the uniform.

Obama is REAL. Folks know it. He does not talk nonsense. He focuses on what is important and everyone knows that who bothers to listen. He is unafraid to show his flaws, imperfections and weaknessess.

He can't bowl worth a damn,but he is congenial enough to join in because he knows it will not cost him his self-assurance. He will be the same human being with the same values and principles whether he bowls 37 or 107.

Obama will be the same man whether you try and tar and feather him with guilt by association or folks listen and understand that is not who he is. He wrote books about who he is.

Obama will be the same person regardless of the negative connotations folks want to sling about his middle name.

Obama knows that the essence of the man that he is will not be bowed by the false accusations, the vacuous name calling the swiftboating.

He is like teflon because he will not engage it.

If he has to cheat to win he won't win, is his attitude. He would rather place his faith in the American people than to cow to crass foolishness.

He understands he cannot lead America nor can he help AMericans by stooping to those lows, it would be an endless game of lieing and deciet where he would have to sell his soul.

That is not why he is running. He is running to change the country he has said it over and over. He has told the citizenry that only WITH them can he change the country.

If americans cannot wake up and hear his message he knows he will be unable to govern. That is why he does not countenance, the petty bitterness and internecine warfare that has become so commonplace in american politics. Instead he resolutely standsfast and tells americans THAT is why they can't solve the problems of the economy, war, and healthcare and jobs.

Those DISTRACTIONs are costing us the American dream.

That is his message and you know what? Folks, know it is true. They know they have voted for all those friggin distractions and they have not made progress. Only Obama is offering them REAL change.

So, Obama is willing to play rope-a-dope with Hillary. He lets her and the media and the GOP swing away with all their best punches..he wants them tired and spent, he wants the world to see them in all their putrid glory...because when he comes off those ropes

He will be the CHAMPION...just like ALI.

The American people will be the REAL winners because we will finally have elected a true leader with a vision and strong sense of purpose of what is right and wrong with the judgment to lead and the wisdom to restore this countries greatness.

If we ignore the distractions we can vote to elect a great leader who will with our support reclaim this nation and the American dream of government by the people, of the people for the people.