Obama's Speech

I didn't see but five minutes of it, and I heard twenty-five minutes on the radio. Sounded like it was going well, particularly the attacks on McCain.

Nevertheless, one point irritated me, and that was when Obama suggested he would bring about energy independence from the Middle East in a fairly short time frame - ten years?

W., from China, said that point reminded him of Communist rhetoric - unrealistic targets (remember those five year plans?) But our supposedly non-Communist types - the drilling enthusiasts - routinely greatly exaggerate how much oil we have in ANWR and offshore. You don't have to be Communist to be unrealistic.

Politicians of all stripes have just no concept - NO CONCEPT - about how deep we are in the hole. We are very, very far from energy independence, and no one in charge - NO ONE - seems to grasp the gravity of the situation. Applause lines like this are just the cheapest panders.

But, hey, it got applause. And from an actor's perspective, what more can you ask?