Stream of Consciousness on President Obama’s Address to Congress

It's nice to have a husband who understands DVR… We came home this evening and watched President Obama's address to the joint session of Congress.

I have to say, Barack Obama is the first president in a long time, maybe in my entire lifetime, who I really get.

Yes, I feel a little bad that he is not exactly of my generation. I have about six years on him. He could be my little brother…in a different world.

But here is a man…an educated man. An articulate man. A man who is the polar opposite of the man he replaced. Thank god.

Barack Obama is a politician, yes. But he is of a completely different breed than the politicians in whose grip the country has been held for so many years. Obama trades on reason. On inspiration. On calling upon people to be the best they can be. On hope and lofty ideals and everyone giving the other guy a hand or a leg up to reach those ideals.

As opposed to the Former Occupant, who traded on fear and xenophobia, and pandered to the hatreds and prejudices we all nurse deep in our souls. A great man calls upon us to put aside those demons for the good of all; a lesser leader stirs them up and nurtures them, the better to control those into whose control he condemns them.

Mr. Obama speaks plainly, frankly; he scrapes away the layers of secrecy and the pretense of privilege built up by the Former Occupant and his cadre. He lays bare the problems and then presents his solutions.

He doesn't pander.

As much as I liked Bill Clinton, and longed for him after he was shooed out of Washington with his tail between his legs, I always felt a little…schmoozed after hearing him speak.

A little like I needed to go wash…

I don't feel that way with Barack Obama.

I feel like the man behind the podium is my intellectual equal, possibly (probably) even my superior. Which is as it should be. He is the man, after all, with his finger on the button.

And he stands up in front of the American people and speaks to them like adults. As if they have brains, and the ability to use them.

How long, exactly, has it been since you felt the President of the United States believed you had more on the ball than, say, the average fifth-grader?

Let the right spew their "socialism, big government, tax and spend" bullshit. They got us into this mess. And it will take someone capable of independent thought—and who believes the Average Joe is capable of the same—to get us out of it.

You go, Mr. Obama!