(sorry for the rambling 3:30 am writing style)
I can't really handle reading this whole thread right now (got to page 14), but I would just like to voice my frustration with what I see as the incredibly hypocritical philosophy of the Republican party today.
How can they claim to be for "small government" and when, over the last 8 years, we've seen a drastic increase in warrantless spying and a huge attack on our civil liberties, and the constant injection of beliefs (Religious or otherwise) that not everyone shares into the system that governs our lives?
How can you claim to leave people to themselves while simultaneously promising to morally police them? "The Party of Values"? What if not everyone shares your values, like fighting against]/i] equality for homosexuals because it "goes against tradition/religion/whateverthefuck"? To put God into the Constitution? (Huckabee!) Do Republicans not see the complete contradiction here?
The Democrats certainly have just as many problems, but at least (to me), they seem to be more upfront and less contradictory in their beliefs (please feel free to prove otherwise though).
Though Obama is certainly no superhero, he seems to me to genuinely want to help people, and his life has given him quite a bit of perspective on how our system affects everyone. Hopefully he can do it correctly.
I feel bad for our nation's political comedy writers though.