Nice list, afx. I am going to be lazy (gotta do some work) and pile on, so “ditto.”

I also think, based on the analyses I have seen, I like Obama’s tax plan and energy plans better than McCain’s. I think O is more committed to banging out solutions in these areas and McCain’s ideas are short-sighted (perhaps this is to be expected, he won’t have to deal with this crap for much longer).

And choice of running mate is another straw in favor of judgment. I am a woman and would vote for Biden over Palin any day. What was McCain thinking? Guess he was being all mavericky again…

Not to diminish any of afx’s other points, which I agree with, I want to elaborate a little on your inspiration attribute (and to some degree, intelligence). One of the crowning achievements of the Reagan administration (or so the history books say–I was fairly young and clueless at the time, except I still hate him for letting them count ketchup a vegetable in public school lunches) was his ability to make the country look towards a more positive future at a time when the US was suffering economically and its prestige in the world was at rock bottom. Sound familiar? And, despite Palin’s sad misquotes of Reagan (or someone supposed to sound like him), she’s no Ronald Reagan.

We are going to need someone who can rally the workers–and, hint, it ain’t the members of the AARP–who are going to bear the financial burdens. Those of us under the age of AARP membership are going to be strapped with the financial fall-out for the next 20 or more years. While we may all be in a worse financial place soon, at least someone who is inspirational can help us feel better about it, create something to aspire to and encourage us to pull the load together. I think that is at the heart of a definition of a “leader.”