We have a lot of madmen proclaiming a lot of nonsense on a wide range of topics such as global climate change, economy fixing and health care reform. And while sometimes it is easy for us to spot the madmen, we are ourselves seduced by an occasional mad thought. Changing a person’s mind about some of these topics is like trying to change their religion. It takes time, patience, persistence and compassion – and shouldn’t be predicated with the declaration that the other person is profoundly wrong – either intellectually or emotionally.

The problems facing us are big, but not insurmountable. It will take a lot of hard work and a lot of difficult to pull off leadership. But this year, unlike recent years past, I think the guy at the wheel is driving toward sunrise rather than sunset.

Just my 2BB.

Tommy, i have no argument whatsoever with these thoughts. I think Obama is a fabulous speaker, certainly influential, and most definitely compassionate.

“As to actual policies and the day-to-day running of the country, that stuff is always a balance between politics and ideology and money, and it’s always going to be messy. I don’t expect the guy I hire to run the country to be able to just walk in and fix the system. All I hope for is that he work within the system with high integrity as best he can. I believe Obama is doing his best. And I believe he is as honest as a politician can be. And I believe he and his people are a big improvement over the last group in terms of integrity and compassion. Thus the contentment. ”

This is the part that I just can’t accept…Unfortunatlely, just because you are compassionate, influential, sincere etc doesn’t get our country out of the shape we are in. I also am a realist, and I did not, and do not expect him to have “turned around” our country in this short time, or to have the perfect answer to get it done. What I do expect is to see programs, and spending that make sense, and don’t put our country in such a deep financial hole, we will never be able to recover. We can’t just keep throwing borrowed money around and expect it to make things better. For example, the whole cash for clunkers program just didn’t make sense to me. The general idea of stimulating the auto industry and getting gas guzzlers off the road made sense, the way it was implemented was terrible. I have a friend that was given $3500 to trade in a 2001 ford escape for a 2010 TOYOTA that only got 3 mph better mileage. Two things drastically wrong with that…3 MPH, AND FOR GOD SAKES, WE LET PEOPLE BUY FOREIGN CARS WITH IT! It just seems to make good COMMON SENSE to limit the cars to at least have to buy American and require better than 3 mph better!

Just some thoughts preventing me from agreeing with the “terrificness”

My point was that I see a lot of progressives, kicking back, wringing their hands and saying, “OK my work is done now. Obama will fix everything”

That would be a huge mistake. I see now from your elaboration that that was not your point.

I guess we get down to definitions of terms and with my screwed up vocabulary I consider it possible to be content while dissatisfied simultaneously!

You wrote: “I am just curious what you think our new our new terrific leaders have done to deserve the adjective “terrific”.”

When Obama speaks, I believe him. And that’s terrific.

When I really hear the part of his message that comes from forgiveness and compassion, I am made better. I believe that this part of his message is sincere, and if this it true, it means we have a man of great power and influence in a position where he can do a great deal of good for the world just by setting an example of how to be a good dude. And I believe he is doing exactly that, terrifically.

As to actual policies and the day-to-day running of the country, that stuff is always a balance between politics and ideology and money, and it’s always going to be messy. I don’t expect the guy I hire to run the country to be able to just walk in and fix the system. All I hope for is that he work within the system with high integrity as best he can. I believe Obama is doing his best. And I believe he is as honest as a politician can be. And I believe he and his people are a big improvement over the last group in terms of integrity and compassion. Thus the contentment.

Tommy

52 cards in a deck.

52 weeks in a year.

52 years in my life.

Seems pretty obvious that next year I should celebrate my age by playing poker every day for a year.

You wrote:

“I think we are hard-wired to never be completely satisfied with the status quo and constantly strive to improve ourselves and our world.”

This is a great sentence. It felt so true and right when I first read it, but I knew there was a leak somewhere. And here’s what I think it is. Yes it’s good to constantly strive to improve ourselves and the world. What’s wrong is being hard-wired to being never completely satisfied. Are the two mutually exclusive? Does contentment = complacency? I don’t believe it does. I believe it is possible to accept everything that is bad and wrong and evil and injust, exactly as it is, in each moment it arises, without it harming us, and then, in the next moment, take action to make it better. Further, I believe that our ability to improve ourselves and the world could be enhanced by our increased contentment, not derailed by it.