Reply #13: brilliant comment [View All]

[DemocratAholic]

I think that this is so painful because we were deeply moved by a campaign deeply infused with idealism.

That comment says it all in a nutshell. The weird thing is, I never perceived it as being "idealism." In fact, I never really thought of it like that until I read this comment. I perceived Obama to be someone who was super-intelligent, with an amazing capacity to see things that others couldn't see. That his own life experiences had made him very sensitive, and combined with his intelligence, it produced this gift for being able to give a voice to, and make people understand, things that many of us are unable to express in words.

I have been accused on many occasion of being gullible. What I always say in response to that is...I'm gullible because I am very trusting of people. Because I don't expect my "friends" to be tricking me. For some reason, I don't know why...probably has something to do with my childhood or something, I have a very hard time being cynical towards people I like. God knows, I have gotten into trouble on many occasion for trusting people who were tricking me.

I recall during the campaign, especially from Hillary Clinton, that some people were saying that Obama was a "good talker" and things along those lines, basically accusing him of saying things he didn't really believe just for the sake of being elected. I didn't think that possible. I didn't think it possible someone could appear to be that sincere, have the capability to write and say those words...without really believing them.

Anyway, thanks for saying that, because you expressed something very succinctly, you really put your finger on exactly the way I am feeling. And the way you said it, it's like I can look at it from outside myself. It's like being in a psychotherapy session, and my therapist says something and a light bulb goes off in my head. Difficult to accept, but very helpful because it does explain why it is so painful. Really, thanks a lot, that was an incredibly enlightening reply and appropriate response to what I am feeling.