One of the things I'm most dumbfounded by, especially as this was the motivation behind many voting for Bush, is this notion that we should vote for a President who is "a regular guy/gal like us" .... that is one of the most patently stupid notions out there, and we're starting to see it come up again with Sarah Palin - who today embraced that trophy by claiming she's "Joe Six-Pack".

How can this be a legitimate criteria for assuming one of the highest posts in the world?  We don't use that criteria for any other important decision we make in choosing important figures, whether it's choosing a doctor, an employee, head of a company, or any other corporate/public position (e.g. I think we can all agree we want a doctor who is qualified to perform surgery).   So why is it that the most important position in the entire world should be held not by a man/woman who everyone thinks/knows has supreme intellect, but by one who is just like us? I don't want to have a beer or go bowling with my president. I want to know that my president is far smarter, wiser, more disciplined, eloquent and seasoned than I am, that he/she commands everyone's respect the minute he/she walks into a room, and that he/she has a great sense of right/wrong, ramifications of his/her actions, etc. Now the ability to relate and understand, that's important. But that's a function of multi-dimensional thinking and experiences. Based on what I've seen, Barack Obama fits the bill in all respects.