Rising above principle

President Obama is looking very presidential.  It will be much harder in 2011 for the Tea Baggers and others of that ilk to demonize him.  He’s won major victories (extension of unemployment benefits, ending “don’t ask, don’t tell,”  passing the “New Start Treaty,” aiding 9/11 first responders,) with Republican votes.  

Those nut cases who say he is not a citizen, who say he is a socialist, who say he is a Muslim--they have been completely marginalized.  I am not saying the next two years will be easy, but President Obama is looking like a man in charge.

And now, an admission.  I was so angry about the rich getting an undeserved tax break that I was willing to kill that whole bill.  My advisor at Penn State, Bernie Hennessy, often said, “There are times you must rise above principle.”  Think about that.  I was willing to smash the whole compromise because I was angry.  I’m still angry, but so what.  To remain pure in heart, I was willing to kill the compromise and with it the extension of unemployment benefits.  I was standing on principle, and I was wrong.  I still haven’t completely grown up.  Obama has.