The vest VP evah.

...when he closes his book/prepared statement...and says "you know, I get a lot of flack(?) for saying exactly what i think..."

I love it...the HONESTY is what matters...in BOTH these men...

A thing that impressed me about Obama as I've followed him is his thinking process.

Whether it was his speech against the Iraq war, or his speech to the 2004 Dem Convention or when you read Audacity of Hope, there's a mountain of evidence that this man has a voracious appetite for knowledge and thought. He thinks things through thoroughly.

I think it's part of the reason he's able to keep his cool. He's already done plenty of homework so he's got a good foundation of knowledge to digest the new facts before him. And he's confident enough in himself that he is a great listener to opinions of dissent. He takes those new facts and opinions in, thinking about the issue arisen with the previous knowledge he's collected. So he doesn't have to go as far to get the answer he's looking for and he's more confident when he gets there because he's based his decision on that solid foundation of years of gathering knowledge and the opinions of the other good people around him.

Confidence - secure within himself and cool are symptoms of the result of this thinking process that we see - beyond the message or decision. And so is his ability to clearly communicate as a speaker because he's got it figured out so well before he steps to the microphone or answers a question at a town hall/press conference.

When I look at Romney, I don't see any of this. He has to lie a lot. He has to flip flop a lot. He's nervous. And he has trouble communicating because he's scrambling mentally having not thought the issues through. He's trying to wing it. He's a swashbuckler manager - throwing stuff out to see what sticks.

And it's interesting to look at what the Romney campaign has had to do for this election with key ads:
- he video edited Obama's remarks about McCain being afraid to talk about the economy
- he video edited Obama's remarks on "you didn't build that'
- he lied about work for Welfare
- and most recently is his big lie about Medicare
(I'm sure you could add to the list)

After nearly four years in office, the common pattern for the GOP to go after Obama are lies. They couldn't get much on him during 2008 and went for McCarthyism - guilt by association with Rev Wright & Bill Ayers or that he wasn't born in the US or that he's a Muslim, etc - garbage that only had real traction with their bigots. This time around, they're struggling to put a coherent honest criticism together because they can't. It doesn't really exist and by their actions, they know it.

The choice is clearer than it was four years ago. With GOP actions and the case they're flailing at presenting - where they would have a weak case if they were honest about it, Barack Obama has been a darn good president - particularly compared with the lying, shallow thinking flip-flopper they offer as the alternative.

thank you.

Seriously, is Joe uniquely respectful of Obama? He really seems to have the highest opinion of him. Was that the case with Al Gore?