Okay, I haven't kept up this blog. Partially, it's because of health problems and overtime at work. But partially, it was the fact that my initial candidate, Hillary, didn't win. It did get me down for a while. Of course I backed Obama, I'm a Democrat, but I wasn't terribly enthusiastic. But seeing him closer up for months now, seeing how absolutely brilliant his campaign has been, has raised my enthusiasm for him so much that, well, I'm thinking I might have been wrong to back Hillary at first. The other day, as Rachel Maddow said, Obama had three or four events in Florida, a national (and brilliant) half-hour on TV, and an appearance on the Daily Show, as well as a very candid and relaxed interview with Rachel. And he was smiling and happy, and arriving ahead of time everywhere. The guy is just cool.

My one concern is that, in health care, for instance, Obama doesn't seem to me to be committed to a universal system, just a "more affordable" system. I don't believe that's going to work. In fact, the best thing about Edwards' and Hillary's plans was that people of all ages could choose Medicare. A lot of younger people would choose that, solving the Medicare liquidity problem. And the private system would have to comete with a government plan to survive.

To do that, there needs to be a mandate.

However, I'm reassured that when medical plans come up for the vote, Obama will be responsive to grassroots.

But other than questions like that, other than wanting to push Obama to the left on some issues, I'll be ecstatic on November 5 -- if things turn out like I think.