Reply #172: A slavish dedication to any politician is a mistake.

[MineralMan]

So is a slavish opposition to the same politician. Both are errors that expect politicians to act in the way we expect or want them to.

For me, looking at the entire activity of any politician is important, along with the environment in which that politician has to operate.

Doing that is the reason I'm still a firm supporter of President Obama. On individual issues, I don't always agree with him, but overall, I believe he is trying to make the very best of a very difficult situation. I don't know what more I can ask of a President, frankly. Given the initial situation he found when he came into office and the deep divisions between the parties, it's a tough environment.

The thing is that when I listen to what he says he wants to happen, I see the same reasons to support him now that I did before he was elected. The results in his first two years are not what I had hoped for, to be sure, but that's not entirely in his control. A President cannot make law. He can only promote laws. The Congress has to give him bills to sign.

I also sometimes don't understand the reasons he goes about things in particular ways. But, then, I'm not there, and I don't know everything that is under consideration in his decision.

So far, there has never been a President with whom I've agreed 100%. I doubt there ever will be.