Enough With The Hatin'

Obama may not have had 30 years of senate experience, but that is not a knock against him, in my opinion. He does have a Harvard education (some would regard Harvard as among the best schools in the country), experience with grassroots community organizations, experience within a state senate, and a couple of years as a national senator. This does not amount to nothing.

More importantly, he has a vision. He's written books on it. He's campaigned on it. He's been on message since his speech at the DNC convention way back in 2004. Check it out - it was five years ago:

And now that he's been voted into the presidency, his tune has not changed. He has preached transparency, accountability, and intelligent action to make this country - not just the government - better.

So, how does a highly intelligent guy go about setting up a policy to correct a horribly compromised economy? He surrounds himself with the smartest minds available to debate and flesh out a plan. How does he handle mis-steps with his cabinet appointments? He admits his mistakes and moves on. (Yes, I'm aware that there's still at least one appointment that persisted, but I don't know the circumstances so I'm reserving judgment.)

His new economic plan has lots and lots of branches, and some of them will ring as odd to folks. But, as the band discussed last night after practice, some of these things are unwinding the knots that have been tied over years and years of bad decisions. Are all of these payments the best possible uses of the money? It's hard to say right now - just like it was hard to say if some of the policy decisions of the past 30 years were the right move at the time. History is the ultimate arbiter.