The Christian Bible would seem to describe very well the political styles which are operating in the US at present.

Conservatives seek a "Fairness Doctrine" and seek an end to their Old Testament "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" tenet, despite Obama's having achieved what George W. Bush never did, election by a majority of voters and a mandate. All at once "you're either for us or against us" seems to have unpleasant connotations and the plea is for Obama to do unto them what he would like them to do unto him. And he appears to be a Christian, New Testament sort of guy, not exacting the revenge my heart tells me should be done even as my head agrees with him. (There's no doubt in my mind that a Conservative administration would instantly revert to their black-and-white view of the world. A sucker-punch.)

I believe it would be ironic if a black man, a Democrat, 150 years later followed the lead of a white man, a Republican, who abolished slavery (as a military - economic tactic). Lincoln had to work with a diverse group of people in order to save the Union. Lincoln was a wise man who didn't seem to have a vengeful bone in his body.

Obama will have to work with a diverse group of people in order to preserve the Union as a viable nation. Rarely has it been so polarized, and the Union is facing a catastrophe fully as dangerous as Lincoln's. Only now instead of a nation the catastrophe is playing on a world scale. And he seems willing to do that. He doesn't seem to have a vengeful bone in his body - though maybe a cartilage.

"All this fits with an idea that Obama often talked about on the campaign trail, as he praised the presidency of Abraham Lincoln as described by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book "Team of Rivals."

"Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his Cabinet because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was: How can we get this country through this time of crisis?" Obama said at one point."

Unlike Bush, to whom "bipartisan" meant "agree with my every Conservative whim", Obama seems to be interested in leading a unified country. Of course the religious extremists, who have never read "The Sermon on the Mount", will try to sabotage those efforts, but they do everywhere.

I'm awfully glad I'm not President-elect. The country deserves better, and seems to have gotten it.

Arf