"Bitter" was definitely on the agenda.

Patriotism is on the list all the time.

Why wasn't Obama ready to address these issues?

Whose fault was it?   Did his “handlers” screw up?  Was ABC an ole meanie for asking Obama questions that he should have had 100% focus-group-approved responses for?  Did Obama forget to study for his orals?  Was it his inerperience showing? Or did he bet that he'd get a free pass – again? 

Horse manure.

The debate was Obama's chance in front of a national audience to put these nagging little questions behind him.  And even though his handlers claim he had already answered for Rev. Wright, "bitter" and "patriotism" he hadn't. 

The debate was Obama's opportunity to definitively set the record straight so that even doubting Thomas' would have to back off.  He should have been looking forward to the questions.

He didn't, and his emotion-driven supporters cried foul.  Obama didn't just flub up, he set the stage for these issues to continue to be well … issues.

Hillary wasn't in “league” with ABC.  This wasn't “code words” for a racially motivated assault.

Why is Wright a big deal?  One's preacher and other associated people are an indication of worldview.

Most people choose their church.  When they move to a new location they look around for a church.  You visit a few of them.  Did Obama listen to a few sermons first?

It is incredulous that the couple of sermons on the internet were the only instances that Rev. Wright said that whites are today repressing blacks and that the social structure of the United States needed to be affirmatively restructured.  That can be a bridge too far.

One's worldview, et al, directly affects all sorts of big deal issues.  There are dreams. and there is reality.  The question is what is the best path to utopia?   How do we get there from here? 

There are fine lines everywhere you look.  Gray, extenuating circumstances, are everywhere.   Republicans seem to think they can just go out there and demand things.  Socialist do, too.   Compromise is an absolute necessity to prevent either radical from forcing things down people's throats in the name of ideology.

This country doesn't need another ideologue.  George Bush's certainty was, is, and will continue to be a problem.   Game theory states that cooperation always wins the most benefits for the most people over time.  These are adversarial positions and, sometimes in the real world, it means you cut that baby in two.

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