Sunday, January 18, 2009

Obama's Radio Address

I admit I am getting tired of the Greatest Pre-President Ever(!) shtick, but that is coming from Obama's supporters, not Obama himself. We heard his last radio address before the inauguration while driving to Scituate yesterday, and I was quite impressed. He was gracious, stressed many of the things about American exceptionalism that a conservative might have, and reminded us to be thankful for the peaceful transition of power in this country.

So far it's just speeches, but he is at least saying the right things. The appointments and policy hints he has given during the transition have not all been to my liking, but in most cases, they are the same objections I have to Bush and McCain policies. Particularly on economic issues, "more conservative" has not turned out to be "actually conservative," and there's not as much daylight between Obama and the moderate Republicans as I might have thought.

We shall see. I wish him well. He seems to be trying to be a decent, honorable person at first, and that is worth something in itself, even if I disagree with policies. There are limits, where you'd just as soon have a corrupt miserable bastard who agrees with you on certain points as an affable person with terrible plans, but decency is worth something.

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