First off, you’re “pretty disappointed” - fine. I’m “pretty disappointed” too - in this ludicrous, substanceless campaign by people who presume to want to lead us out of this legal, moral, ethical, and constitutional hellhole. I do not, however, expect anyone to “conform to my most perfect ideals,” and anyone who’s read me over the last five years knows that I’m fairly hard-headedly pragmatic. And as far as “nihilistic, self-absorbed rants?” I do not think those words mean what you think they mean, with apologies to Inigo Montoya. If that’s what you think these are, then I suggest you check the comment threads at OpenLeft, MyDD, TalkLeft, and a few other lefty blogs.

McCain would’ve handed Richardson’s head to him? No, it’s not a fact. It’s a supposition, and one that I doubt you can substantiate. I’ve seen Richardson campaign at his best and his worst, and his best can be very good. And compared to the top three Dems, he had the kind of foreign policy and experiential chops to have made mincemeat of McCain’s repeated flip-flops and sucking up to Bush.

And what’s this about 20/20 hindsight re Kerry? Um, some of us - who actually worked the ‘04 election on the ground - had 20/20 foresight. I was reasonably sure he was going to lose, because I saw firsthand what a stupid campaign he and his Villager advisers were running. Kerry (like Gore in 2000) could have won outright, even with the Rethug election theft in Ohio, Florida, and elsewhere, but he let his precious goddamn establishment “dignity” get in the way of taking on the Bush-machine bullshit factory.

You know, I can’t really dissect the rest of your single huge graf (”rant,” say?) re being inspired by Obama’s speeches and then disappointed on substance, only to have a come-to-Jesus moment that allowed you to put aside your cynicism and . . . what? You’ve made my argument for me. You’re invested in this “politics of hope” stuff - fine. But what if the substance doesn’t follow - ever? Then what?

I wrote these letters at the end of January. At that point, Obama had not been giving policy speeches; to his credit, he has begun doing so. But this notion that because his position papers are on his Web site means that he shouldn’t address them in detail in his public appearances is silly. You want to talk about McCain handing his head to somebody - that’s what’ll happen if Obama doesn’t begin getting over this whole “transcendent” thing and buttressing it with a hard-nosed policy campaign.

Finally, I’m just going to address a few points on which you are flatly - well, I’ll be charitable and say “mistaken.” First, as someone who’s met Obama and known who he is for seven years, I don’t rely on our “corrupt media” to tell me who he is. In fact, I don’t rely on our “corrupt media” for much of anything anymore, except to be reliably corrupt. Second, I’m not relying on a “cynical world view [sic] that would have [me] miserable the rest of your life because [I] don’t have the guts to let [my]self be inspired and take a chance” - and by the way, that’s a pretty damn insulting statement coming from someone who’s painting him- or herself as all about the politics of hope and inspiration. Anyone who’s not cynical after the last eight years either has been living under a rock or is thoroughly morally bankrupt. But if I didn’t believe that people are capable of doing the right thing, I wouldn’t have bothered with these letters in the first place. Hardly the act of someone who relies on cynicism. And as to my being “miserable” for the rest of my life: I don’t look to politicians to give my life purpose and meaning. I get that from within. And believe me, my daily life has plenty of both, and despite the best efforts of the Bush administration and the Villagers to destroy it, my daily happiness quotient is actually extraordinarily high.

Oh, and incidentally, I agree with you about Nader. Why do you think it prompted me to go ahead and post my letter to Edwards?

Look, g, I agree that you’re perfectly entitled to your opinion about Obama. And I’m perfectly entitled to mine. But your comment reads like those of the blinkered Obama supporters who accuse anyone who doesn’t “believe” of being a “cynic” or worse. And when choosing the leader of the free world, I prefer to do so with my eyes wide open and my brain free of the fog of “transcendence.”