We'll See...

One of my favorite clips from one of my favorite movies from none other than Aaron Sorkin.

There's been a lot of this about President Obama lately. "Obama's not strong enough, I wish I'd picked Hillary," etc.

This clip, and the attitudes in these articles, make me think of my time in the 2007-2008 cycle. Edwards lost and I thought "how awful." He admitted his affair and I thought "Thank God he didn't win." When Obama became a candidate, I thought he could never win the primary. When he won the primary, I thought he would never win the general and if he did he would compromise too much. I thought his supporters would become disillusioned, and it seems I was at least partially right. When Obama refused to stand up for LGBT rights I thought "I was right about him." When his administration finally took a stand on Don't Ask Don't Tell I thought "I was wrong about him."

I don't think its fair or particularly useful to speculate how another politician would have dealt with the unique and complicated position of the Presidency at any given time. We are a fickle population prone to making vast generalizations about whether our leaders are effective or ineffective based on a myopic view of present circumstances. Will President Obama win the 2012 election? I think so. Will he prove to have been an effective President? We'll see.