I would like this man to be my brother....

[Raven]

my mayor
the Chief of my Fire Department
my Emergency Management Coordinator
my next door neighbor
my Pastor
my friend in time of need

The man is fearless, brilliant and such a breath of fresh air that I do not tire of watching him or listening to what he has to say.

We all need to pray every night that he is kept safe.

In my 62 years of life on this planet, I have never seen a President like this one. Never.

[bluescribbler]

1. I'm only 58

But I second everything else you wrote.

[ClarkUSA]

2. I'm younger but I feel the same way. Every minute of freezing my ass off in Iowa was worth it. K&R

[BrklynLiberal]

3. No argument here...

:thumbsup:

[annabanana]

4. I'm right there with you Raven.

Sometimes America just gets lucky.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Maybe President Obama is the reward we have gotten for having had to live thru

Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II

[TTUBatfan2008]

7. Hmmm...

if you look past the corruption and foul mouth, Nixon was actually a good POTUS for the most part. I think he'd be a Democrat by today's standards.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. You are right. I hesitated before adding him to the list....but I lived thru Watergate...

and Cheney and Rumsfeld were on his team.

[TTUBatfan2008]

13. For my generation...

he's mostly just a punchline, but they did teach us some of the good things he did in office even though I think most kids my age were only interested in the punchline aspect. I'm a political junkie so I know there's more to him than just the caricatured personality and infamous Watergate scandal. He was a brilliant guy, probably too smart for his own good. And he had one of the worst tempers to ever inhabit the Oval Office, as evidenced by the tapes of him disparaging the heck out of Jews, John Kerry (when he testified against the war), etc. and wiretapped the press in order to bully them.

[damonm]

48. That's true - I was around then,

And I remember Nixon. Robert Ludlum (the author of the "Bourne" books - ripping good reads) said it best about him:
"Nixon's flaw was in his character, not his geopolitical vision".

Even many of Nixon's critics wil freely admit that the man was, for all his faults, a top-drawer student of international affairs. He foresaw by some 30 years the rise of China as a global economic power.

[Brigid]

16. You're right, actually.

I haven't really researched this, but I hear he actually tried to do something about the health care mess while he was in office.

[lob1]

65. I believe his plan for healthcare got us where we are today...

insurance companies running the program. He wouldn't do healthcare until someone could make a profit.

[tridim]

21. And the racism and his hatred of the counter culture. nt

[Alameda]

23. Ugh! I lived through his campaign for president in '60, watched

him during the HUAC hearings....no way should he be included in the same breath IMHO.

In Congress, Nixon supported the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948,

Nixon first gained national attention in 1948 when his investigation on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) broke the impasse of the Alger Hiss spy case. Nixon believed Whittaker Chambers' allegations that Hiss, a high State Department official, was a Soviet spy. He discovered that Chambers saved microfilm reproductions of incriminating documents by hiding the film in a pumpkin; these became known as the "Pumpkin Papers".<27> They were alleged to be accessible only to Hiss and to have been typed on his personal typewriter. Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950 for statements he made to the HUAC. The discovery that Hiss, who had been an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, could have been a Soviet spy thrust Nixon into the public eye and made him a hero to many of Roosevelt's enemies, and an enemy to many of Roosevelt's supporters. In reality, his support for internationalism put him closer to the center of the Republican party. This case turned the young Congressman into a national, and controversial, figure.<25> Due to his popularity, Nixon was easily reelected in 1948

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon#House_of_Representatives

[FailureToCommunicate]

45. Nixon's part in HUAC keeps him off Rushmore IMO long before Vietnam & Watergate

[sce56]

55. Nixon was in the BFEE! Not a good person involved in lots of bad

Nixon was groomed & sponsored by Prescot Bush! And those who listened to the tapes say when he talks about the Bay of Pigs thing he is talking about the Murder of JFK!

[Jackpine Radical]

62. Did he make a secret deal with the North to keep the war going?

"Secretly" bomb Cambodia?
What about the suppression of dissent? Kent State?

Oh, yeah, he was better than Bush, and some of his policies were "liberal" by today's twisted standards, but not against the backdrop of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the New Frontier.

[dflprincess]

73. If Nixon would be a Democrat today

that is a really sad comment on what has happened to the Democratic party

[pnwmom]

67. I wonder sometimes if he COULD have been elected in 2008 if the country had not

been so completely revolted by Bush and in such dire straits.

[grantcart]

6. I felt the same about Bobby, its been a long 40 years

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Tomorrow...6/5 is 41 years since the assassination.

[Clio the Leo]

15. "and now it's on to Chicago and let's win there!"

I wept uncontrollably when I realized the irony of those famous last words.

[OhioBlue]

74. OMG - and now it is on to Chicago...

I seriously never thought about that before.

I have no words.

[FailureToCommunicate]

47. Thanks for the reminder, however painful. of that awful summer.

[Betsy Ross]

8. K & R n/t

[liberalmuse]

9. I'm 45...

and used to wonder why there were no men like JFK, RFK and MLK anymore. I'd watch documentaries of RFK and cry at what was lost. I was jealous of the people who came of age in the 1960's. I watched everything during that time as a child, fascinated. I'm not jealous anymore. Well, I am of the music and the mod fashion. :) I'm convinced that this time around, we will get to see how it unfolds. In other words, this man will not be cut down like the others.

[Ishoutandscream2]

60. 47, and you just brilliantly stated how I have always felt

I hope this is a time of the true American spirit. Maybe we're at the crossroads.

[vixengrl]

11. Barack Obama is like the older brother I never had.

He makes me feel safer. He explains things well. He talks to me like I am an adult--I like that. Sometimes, I want to be like him. Sometimes, I want to argue with him--but like a sister. I understand what he says, and why he says what he says. And I appreciate his timing, and his methods. I root for him, like I would root for family. I want him to do well.

And I want to defend him, the way I would family, I think of a knock against him as a knock against me in a way, and I get "fists-out" about him. He's the first president we had who was "older brother" age to me--not "daddy-age". I don't know if that's why I "get" what he's about. But I feel like he gets what my point of view--my Gen-X liberalism is about. I like that, a lot.

[VespertineIconoclast]

18. I really liked your heartfelt response.

I too feel a connection to President Obama that I have never felt for any other politician.

[firedupdem]

22. I get exactly what you mean...nice post n/t

[Jennicut]

26. Yup. I am 33 and look up to him in the same way. The thing is he appeals to all generations.

My Grandma loves him, my aunt and mother in law (in their 50's) voted for him, and then he appeals to Gen X and Y. That is not an easy thing to do.

[TahitiNut]

43. His mother was merely 7 months older than me ... and I'd be proud to have a son like him.

"Proud"? Hell ... doesn't even begin to cover it ... but words escape me.

[Clio the Leo]

14. He IS your brother. Mine too. ;-) ...

...he's also Rush's brother ..... and bin Laden's brother.

Maybe one day they'll figure that out.

[JimWis]

31. Very well said. I hope they do figure it out someday.

[Happyhippychick]

17. He came along just when we needed him.

:)

[Uzybone]

19. KnR

right there with you.

[tridim]

20. He's the best of the best

Makes me proud to be an American.

[Cha]

24. In lieu of that I'm

so happy he's our President and an inspiration that I need in my life.

That's a wonderful sentiment, Raven, thank you.

[TahitiNut]

25. He's a stunningly sane, intelligent, and emotionally healthy man.

That family never ceases to astound me with their grace. I've been in the company of two people in my entire lifetime who modeled the very meaning of grace - people in whose company I felt more comfortable than I ever imagined. People whose very presence was therapeutic and healthy like a breath of fresh air after years breathing emotional smog.

The difference between Obama and Smirk/Sneer is like the difference must've been between Cro Magnon and Neanderthal.

[Kaleko]

37. I see the same things in him.

So you must be right. :)

On the difference between Obama and BushCo, I'd say he's a Jedi knight and they're Mutant Neocon Turtles bumbling around in the Evil Empire, where they shouldn't have been allowed to show up in the first place.

[hisownpetard]

64. He fills me with pride (as does his entire family), and makes me pinch myself,

as I listen with wonder and think, "And he's our President!"

We did it. I still have moments where I just cannot believe it - so much sun,
after all those years of dark.

[Fire1]

27. I feel ya! Right there with ya. n/t

[AwakeAtLast]

28. I'm 39

and I am hoping for some kind of loophole that allows for his third term! :D

[spiritual_gunfighter]

46. Third term already?

I am going to wait and see, personally. He is a masterful politician which I admire, he is a wonderful speaker and he is one of the first polticians I have seen that seems like he actually cares. That being said I disagree with him on numerous issues, but I am willing to give him a chance. I think much of the Obama worship as evidenced on this thread comes from the end of the nightmare that was the Bush administration and we are more than willing to see Obama as we want to see him, not in reality. But again I am still on his side and willing to give him a chance, I just don't like a lot of what I have seen so far.

[ecstatic]

53. I hope so

I don't think anyone else can fill his shoes. I don't want anyone else!!!!!

[stevedeshazer]

29. Brother, maybe, but President, hell yes.

This is new territory in American history.

[JimWis]

30. I am 64, and I agree with you.

[live love laugh]

32. "We all need to pray every night that he is kept safe." Amen.

[eleny]

33. Same age as you and you're right - none so fearless as this one

[Suich]

34. I'm 66 and couldn't agree with you more, Raven!

Thanks for the post!

:yourock:

[proud patriot]

35. Amen

:loveya:

[PretzelWarrior]

36. well said. I'm 40. The Big FOUR-O.

I was saying earlier I had never seen a president that inspired this kind of confidence and general good feeling about the office of presidency like this man does. It's good to hear from several who are my parents' age who feel the same way.

[eridani]

38. Never thought I'd live to see a sitting president apologize for fucking with Iran in 1953

--or for the Iraq war for that matter.

[Douglas Carpenter]

39. Amen!

[democracy1st]

40. K & R

[SunsetDreams]

41. K&R!!

I absolutely agree!

[HopeOverFear]

42. He's a role model for me as far as emotional maturity

I've never seen ANYone act so calm in the face of chaos and bullshit. I aspire to be that way one day, and I'm 36.

[goclark]

44. I'm 66 and I've never seen anything like him

Totally agree with you.

Surely some will jump into this thread to say we are his fan club.

Damn Right!

He represents America with dignity and wisdom.

He makes me proud to be an American.

He is smart and kind and has grace.

HE CARES -- he may not seem to care about each issue at the exact moment that we want him to embrace it but it is easy to see that he has not forgotten one thing that he said he would do.

I believe him and after GW and the hell on wheels he took us through and just the thought of John and Sarah ----- how sweet it is to have someone that can think in the WH again.

[Willo]

61. "He represents America with dignity and wisdom. He makes me proud to be an American."

Isn't it wonderful? :)

A NYC cab driver returned from a visit to his home in India. He said to me, "India loves Obama."
We were both so pleased. It was such a good feeling.


"He is smart and kind and has grace. He cares..."
This gives me so much peace because these are qualities of a person you can trust even if you don't agree.

This is such a nice appreciation thread.

[goclark]

71. Love this thread

[stlsaxman]

49. Damn it!- "Error: You've already recommended that thread."

Thanks, Raven!

[RufusTFirefly]

50. Wow! I'm just relieved for your sake that Jim Jones is already dead. n/t

[ecstatic]

52. LAME! I feel the same way as the OP,

but I wouldn't kill myself for Pres. Obama and I believe with all my heart that he would never request something like that. Respecting and admiring someone does not mean you have blinders on.

[RufusTFirefly]

56. Don't get me wrong. Inspiration can be a wonderful thing

But I find excessive ardor -- especially in what's supposed to be a representative democracy -- pretty creepy.

[Honeycombe8]

72. So....if we live in a representative democracy, we're not supposed to really like our leaders.

That's an interesting take on things.

[nichomachus]

54. +1

[Butch350]

51. I'm 59 and I with ya...

Young Whippersnapper don't have our life experiences to judge things by.

[Morrisons Ghost]

57. I'll go you one better...

I'd let him perform surgery on me!:hi:

[Rebubula]

58. yeah well...

...you are the Lizard King, you can do anything...

[Morrisons Ghost]

59. Finally!

Someone gives me the props I deserve! Btw? Did you "raise your hand if you understand"?:-)

[hisownpetard]

63. His speech was pitch perfect. He makes me cry. I love the man and cannot believe

how lucky we are to have him.

K&R!!!!!!!

[gorfle]

66. You forgot...

lover!

:)

[Raven]

68. Ohhhhh...never entered my mind!

;-)

[Mira]

69. We were due. But I am so very grateful. Every day. K&R

[jwirr]

70. I am your age also and I agree. There are times I do not know what

he is trying to accomplish but I trust him. We are praying for his safety.