"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862. The country anxiously awaits the moment when Barak Obama accepts the nomination for President, in just an hour or two. I remember well, the days when a black mayor in a major American city was ground-breaking. It was inconceivable in those days, that a black man could become President. Perhaps Obama has the vision to lift the country from the malaise we are in. Maybe he will be just the latest face of the status quo. I hope it is the former and not the latter, but I'm not convinced yet. As I watch the coverage on CNN, I am disturbed by the pomp and circumstance that Obama has allowed himself to be swept into. The set at Invesco Field is kind of embarrassing from my point of view and lends to my sinking feeling that at the end of the day, smoke and mirrors will trump substance. The stark reality for Obama is that he will ultimately have the usual suspects in Congress with which to deal. The Congressional Democrats have thus far shown little in the way of visionary thinking and there is no reason to think that Mr. Obama will motivate them to a loftier place. Lobbyists still lurk in the shadows and the backrooms of Washington, enticing public servants to choose self-interest over the public interest. The permanent bureaucracy still stands ready to be the immovable object. It's a huge task. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky