Comments on: Musings On The President-Elect: We’re Not In Kansas Anymore, Are We Barry?

By: AustinRoth

AustinRoth — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:15:18 +0000

"Many of our right-wing trolls seem to have dropped out of sight"

Not to worry, Shaun. I will never leave you!

As always,
your personal troll

By: shaun

shaun — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:58:39 +0000

SDBUSA:

Thank you for the kind words and most especially for your thoughtful take. You and Dave Schuler are quite right that things can look very different when you're campaigning in Kansas, to riff off of my post.

I want to reinforce something here, as well: Many of our right-wing trolls seem to have dropped out of sight since they got smoked on Election Day, but as I said several times in the run-up to November 4 and will reinforce now, Barack Obama does not get a free pass from me and I will be as critical and probing of him as I was of Hillary Clinton and John McCain when the need arises.

As I wrote, my trust of Obama is offered willingly, but it is finite.

By: SDBUSA

SDBUSA — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:06:31 +0000

My candidate did not win. Not even close. I am a conservative but that does not make me evil. I think I am a reasonable and somewhat squared away and am humble enough to know I could not possibly be correct on all issues. I did not really embrace either candidate but McCain was the best I could find. Shaun, even though we share different views, I have always respected your position because it was well educated, and true to your believes. I have often found myself re-examining my own views after reading some of your prose. We actually share some common ground here. Even though PE Obama was not my candidate, he is my President (Elect) and I will support him until such time as he proves unworthy of it. Don't be too hard on him about defense related issues. He made statements regarding our national defense and how he would act as Commander in Chief during the campaign, based on information he had at that time. Now he is presented with intelligence he was not privy to at the time. A position change here is certainly understandable if it is substantiated by information that is new to him. This is somewhat sensitive to me as I was dialed into to this community in another life. He seems to be a rather intelligent guy, give him a little latitude here with regard to his centrist approach on intel issues. In any event, the key to a successful Presidency will be to not only surround himself by experienced and capable personnel, but to listen to them. If his inexperience is exposed by missteps, it will be a sign of weakness, and he will be a liability to the country in the international arena. It is okay to be disliked by other nations so long as you are respected. We will only be liked by some nations if they think we can be managed. This will only happen if they think we are weak.

By: Dave_Schuler

Dave_Schuler — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:22:47 +0000

It wasn't just bluster, shaun, but things look different when you know you'll be sitting in the Oval Office, you're planning your reelection campaign, and you recognize that blaming your predecessor will only take you so far.

By: shaun

shaun — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:16:43 +0000

Fixed.

By: TC_LeatherPenguin

TC_LeatherPenguin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:54:34 +0000

William Kristol is the founder/editor of The Weekly Standard. He has nothing to do with National Review.