Yeah I gathered a long time ago that you aren't a liberal.

And I'm sorry but I'd be willing to bet that Clinton learned quite a bit (by her own admission) from the '94 (was it? may be off a year or so) insurance fiasco. It was a fiasco, a disaster, ill-fated and ridiculous. You won't hear me denying that one bit.

As far as cynicism and such in politics, do I think it is good? No. But, do I honestly believe one man is going to get into office an revolutionize the world? Not one bit, I draw from my favorite quote here:

“The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.” (Hannah Arendt). So I have little faith in Obama, until politics as a whole changes in this country. And I don't see that happening until the people in America actually step up and get involved instead of adopting the lackadaisical attitude that is so present.

Oh and as to my Warren Harding comment: it comes from a book called "Blink" and basically the history is that Warren Harding had little to no experience, but he "looked" like a president and thus the author hypothesizes that his looks and stature played a huge role in his election (by landslide proportions too!). He is considered one of the most useless presidents in history as well.

In summary, everybody else being cynical justifies oneself being cynical.

Don't get me wrong -- cynical quotes are the funnest ones -- I simply loathe being labeled a cultist for supporting somebody that has the courage to challenge Americans to be better. Would it happen? Who knows. However, we all know the best way to fail is not to try, or in this case, supporting somebody that tells Americans the very opposite.

Hmm...I guess I am being cynical in that I don't believe the government is going to "change!!!" with Obama, so you've got me there.

Aren't you voting for McCain though?

I'm voting for Obama if he is the nominee. McCain fails the test on two issues:

1. Foreign policy. You can't spell "neoconservative" without "conservative", and that's a real insult to pragmatic Republican foreign policy in the mold of Richard Nixon. Neocon attitudes toward war and patriotism are borderline fascist, and that's something I've never been able to get over. There is nothing conservative about raging imperialistic jihad against irrelevant nations.

2. Fiscal policy. Cutting upper-bracket taxes while waging wars is a recipe for disaster. Our budget is being funded by a $1 trillion line of credit from China. Supply-siders need to push spending cuts along with tax cuts if such policy is to make any sense.

However, I would be fully behind McCain if Obama is not the nominee, in light of McCain's uplifting message and public character. America doesn't need a politician that says "No, you can't."

Are you sure about that?

It's a fair statement to say that his speeches don't include much policy, but it is completely out of line to say that he doesn't have any, or that they are difficult to find.

I said he doesn't give them in his speeches.

Speeches aren't the issue at hand. Extrapolating emotional speeches to infer he suffers from a categorical lack of specifics (as many other Clinton supporters do), is logically wrong and one of the things that hurt Democrats as a group.

For what it's worth.
National (4/16-17)
Obama 54%
Clinton 35%

That's ridiculous, how are candidates supposed to express their views "oh so if you want to learn about me visit my website". No, I expect to hear it from their mouths not from their political advisor's webmaster.

Clinton is the one that mentioned her website multiple times during the debate.

Obama has spoken in detail many times, including hours-long sessions on foreign and economic policy. He does policy briefings separately from stump speeches. Fair enough, in my opinion.

Well Jefferson was a huge radical and I don't think he ever changed his views even after he became President. Hell Jefferson thought we should have a revolution every 50 years or so.

About Harding, he won because of aftermath of WW 1. People were mad at Wilson and took it out on his man. Also I am not sure if I call Harding the most useless president since he was only president for 2 years, although his administration was the most corrupt. The Tea Pot Dome scandal comes to mind.

Hopefully Carter endorses Obama now.

There's a lot of theory as to why he was elected though. A lot of the theories center around the fact that he "looked" like a president etc.

That is a new one for me. I was a history major in college and most historians I read said it was more because of the disillusionment of WW I.

Yeah I learned that one of Harding's biggest "selling factors" was the fact that he just looked and acted like a true President.

Well, by that measure, the Warren Harding of 2008 would be Mitt Romney. He's already dropped out, so we're safe from the Harding pitfall.

While the book I'm quoting out of says it is the main reason, I'm sure there were other ones. If mine wasn't packed away in boxes I'd pull it out (I still might), but checkout the chapter called "The Warren Harding Effect" in Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. If you aren't into psychology and the study of the subconscious it may not be terribly interesting to you but its not a bad read overall.

What's your point? Oh right I'm supposed to go straight to the candidate's website to read everything eh? Did you happen to miss my earlies portion where I flat out admitted I pretty much think every candidate is a fucking liar? I've watched at least 10 Obama speeches or lengthy interviews and again, I will say it one more fucking time, I still don't know where the hell he stands.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I've found Obama's speeches to be sorely lacking beyond his mantra of "change!!!", something I don't find in Clinton's speeches.

I've found his healthcare policy to be lacking, as well as his commitment to actually doing something during his presidency.

That's all. I don't like him, I think he'll be too quick to change depending on what is popular, rather than be a strong leader when we need him.

I could swear you're talking about Hillary Clinton. How many poll-tested slogans has she run through in this campaign?

LoL!

Again, at least it is better than the ambiguous "change!!!"