Winning and governing

I've slid into one of my slumps. A loss, not of hope, but of confidence that good things are going to get done.

If Barack Obama could have simply taken Washington by the storm he stirred up on the campaign trail, we would already have most of the progressive reforms we had hoped for. But then he met the brick wall of Congress, the influence and power of money and incumbency, the huge problems of war, and the end stage of our unregulated financial system -- and things screeched to a halt, or at best a creep.

There I was in the book store this morning, faced with promotional tables full of Sarah Palin. I've read enough excerpts online to know I did not want to read any more.

But there, on the other side of the table in a more modest stack, was David Plouffe's The Audacity to Win.

Now it's on my desk, and I'm ready to begin reading how Obama's campaign manager managed this amazing feat of winning the presidency for "the tall skinny guy with the funny name."

It seemed like just what I needed to restore my hope and rebuild my confidence. Stay tuned.

Ralph