I was reading a book yesterday by John Maxwell called “Developing the Leaders Around You” (1995, Injoy, Inc.) On page 161, Rev. Maxwell describes the difference between dictators and “dream team coaches”, or “facilitators”. In Maxwell’s words:

Dear President Obama:

Congratulations on your historic ascendancy to the office of the President of the United States. You are now the leader of the free world. My hope is that you understand the gravity of this office and that you are serious in reaching out to all Americans, myself included.

I have to be honest. I didn’t vote for you. Some of your campaign rhetoric seemed designed to do nothing more than to win the election, even though you and I both know that there was no way you could adhere to the promises you made. But many of my fellow Americans were unable or unwilling to think critically, so now you’re my President.

I apologize that I was unable to watch your inauguration ceremony yesterday. Unfortunately, many of us had to work to pay the taxes to support the United States Treasury and the government that you are now responsible for. I guess that my efforts allowed others to take the day off and actually go to Washington and bask in your afterglow yesterday. Be that as it may, here are a few things you can do for me and my family in the next four years.

First, please don’t raise my taxes. My wife and I already [...]

We do plan to live blog tonight’s debate, so gather around tonight around 9:00 PM Eastern Time.
I suspect tonight may be more influential to the election than last Friday’s debate between McCain and Obama.  And hinges mostly on how well Palin looks.  If Palin performs poorly, Biden could just stand there and smile and win [...]

This is Part 2 of the analysis of Friday night’s Presidential Debate.  Part 1 was posted on Saturday.
Iran
Lehrer asked for a “reading” of Iran by the candidates.  Are they a threat?  Both candidates made it very clear that nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran was not acceptable.
McCain did a good job of highlighting both [...]

Here’s Part 1 of my assessment of Friday night’s Presidential Debate.  Part 2 will come on Sunday.
All I can say is, I was wrong.  Jim Lehrer does want to be the next Tim Russert.
I will say, I did not sense any partisanship on Lehrer’s part, but he sure dug into follow up questions, including a [...]

John McCain today announced he is suspending his campaign while he works in Congress to resolve the current economic crisis.  He also asked that the debate scheduled for this Friday night be postponed.
Here are John’s remarks made today in New York City (courtesy of the McCain-Palin campaign):
America this week faces an historic crisis in our [...]

Friday night, September 26, will be the first formal debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.  The event will be held at the University of Mississippi, and will be hosted by Jim Lehrer.
Thankfully, Lehrer is already established enough that he won’t try to be another Tim Russert.
At this point, I think it’s helpful to resurrect [...]

My husband has been after me to contribute my thoughts to his blog instead of just hashing them out with him. After reading the story “Obama: My donors can help victims” in the Des Moines Register today, I decided it was time.
I confess I was taken in by Obama’s message of change. I [...]

We were channel surfing on Saturday night because the Olympic coverage was of the women’s marathon, which I liken to watching paint dry, when we happened upon Rick Warren’s interviews of the respective candidates.  The least I can say is that the contrasts were spectacular.  John McCain was the all-around winner, (unless he was being [...]

Steve Deace had probably the best group of people on his show today for talking about local Republican politics and why we are struggling as a party to make an impact in the Iowa Statehouse, and on the national scene. The group included outgoing Polk County (Iowa) Republican Party Chair and State Central Committee [...]