President-elect Barack Obama is only a few years older than me but he’s in a hell of a lot better shape than I am.  Hell, the man has defined abs; all I have is flab.

I am not a particularly ideological person.  My political views have become more liberal the older I’ve gotten but I don’t get quite as worked up about ideology.  As President-elect Obama has been announcing his picks to fill cabinet seats I have been rather disappointed in most of them, especially his economic picks, but I also know that unlike President Bush, President-elect Obama will be the one in charge of his administration.  That being said, I have to agree with many people that his choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation can only be seen as a slap in the face to the LGBT community.  How could it not be.  President-elect Obama does not live in a bubble.  He is fully aware of the real anger and disappointment felt by the LGBT community when Proposition 8 was passed in California.  Yet, he sees no problem giving an outspoken anti-gay minister a key place in his inauguration?

I have to admit the needs and aspirations of the LGBT community doesn’t touch me often.  I live in a rural area of Missouri and don’t have much contact with gay and lesbian individuals.  In college I knew and worked with several gay and lesbian people, it was just never a big deal.  Not where I live now.  Regardless, even I would know better than give someone like Rick Warren such a prominent place in the celebration of ascension to the presidency.

Once again, I find myself asking why the President-elect is veering so far to the right?  Were we all duped?  Was he always this closet conservative?  Because there are many centrist and progressive ministers out there who would have been better choices.  It’s a real shame.  Obama was elected by a largely progressive group and he has, at almost every turn, turned his nose up to those who got him in office.

I have to say I am increasingly disappointed in the people President-elect Obama is putting forth for his cabinet.  Not one progressive in the bunch — not one.  From Janet Napolitano to Hillary Clinton to the horrific idea of keeping Robert Gates, President-elect Obama has chosen to move to the right on nearly every aspect of national security.  That’s a shame considering there are so many great progressives out there in these fields.  The mind-boggling part of this is President-elect Obama continuously chooses people who not only didn’t support his candidacy, but stand oppose many of things he pledged and/or spoke against during the campaign.  This is not a “team of rivals” it’s a team of people who will work against you.

Now we hear one of the architects of the disastrous financial bailout is going to be nominated for Secretary of the Treasury, probably one of the most important picks of this new administration.  So much for change we can believe in.  I may remain an ardent Obama supporter, but that doesn’t temper my disapppointment in these choices.

What a great day Wednesday, November 5, 2008, has turned out to be!  Not only did President-Elect Obama win the election by a great margin, Democrats took all but one of the major state government offices in Missouri with Jay Nixon leading the way as governor.  It would be nice to see Missouri go to President-Elect Obama, and while it’s still close — closer than anyone expected, I think — I’m not sure that will happen.  Regardless, our country has spoken and in just 3 short months change will, I hope, start to sweep this country.

Tonight, Senator Barack Obama will speak at a rally in Springfield, MO.  I wish I could be there, but in George W. Bush’s economy I have to work a second job.

It’s great to see Democrats paying so much attention to Missouri.  I still think it will be difficult for Senator Obama to take the state, but certainly not impossible.  A lot will depend on the rural, very Conservative parts of the state.  I live in that part of Missouri and while it’s true I see many more Obama/Biden signs than I did Kerry/Edwards signs at this time four years ago, I think it will be a tough sell in these parts of Missouri.  However, if Senator Obama can peel a few of those rural voters to add with the votes he sure to get in the more metropolitan parts of the state he could pull it off.  This rally could help do that.  I’m interested in seeing how many people show up.  I suspect it will be a capacity crowd.  Springfield is a central point for many of us who live in Southwest Missouri so I suspect many will come from around this area to see Senator Obama.  Wish I could be one of them.

Having your campaign ad viewed by more than 20% of the country is not too shabby.  That’s around 33.5 million viewers spread across CBS, Fox, NBC, MSNBC, BET, TVOne, and Univision.  The real loser last night was ABC, which came in fourth place in 18-49-year-old viewers among the four major broadcast networks.

Will tonight’s ad change the minds of many voters?  I think not.  It was a great promotional tool and laid out in detail what the candidate stands for, but I simply do not believe there are that many undecided voters; just people who refuse to say which party they support when asked.  What this ad will do is reinforce those who already support Obama and those who don’t.  Still, it was a good plan and Obama lost nothing by doing this; he certainly still has a bucket of money left for the next six days.

Pictures like this speak for themselves.

I’m not sure how successful these long-form ads are, but I I like them.  They’re made for the online viewer who can take a little longer to watch and listen, but not too long before they lose interest.  The latest, entitled “Defining Moment,” plays to Senator Obama’s message of uniting the country and stands in contrast to the divisive messages of the McCain campaign.

Whenever I read stories like this I find myself wondering how John McCain would have handled being treated so rudely.  To his credit, Senator Obama did not back away from the woman who yelled out her stupidity nor did he allow himself to pushed aside.  This is what acting presidential is like.