Exxon Ed Whitfield has been trying to clean up his voting record for this election year. He knows it is a bad year for Republicans, and that he has been a shameless enabler of every failed policy of the Bush Administration. All the election year scuffling to clean up his record cannot hide the fact that he has been a constant, bitter opponent to reform of our healthcare system, and of providing equal access to those in poverty as those with wealth to healthcare. Lets look at some of Exxon Eddie's votes to limit the access of healthcare to working Americans.

It's easy for the issues in this election to feel somewhat distant, or only important in a rhetorical way. When someone talks about having friends or family in Iraq, it's easy to miss the scope of such feelings, since that burden is shared by so few in our society. Likewise, with issues ranging from abortion to illegal immigration to social security reform... to universal healthcare.

I must confess, I was among those who took a very distant look at a lot of those issues. From when I first become politically conscious, through being a Republican, and until somewhat recently, I was more concerned about the here and now of my own life- and none of those issues impacted me directly.

It's funny how things change.

Let's assume triangulating Democrats and screaming progressives don't screw it up for us, and Obama is elected the next president.

I feel strangely confident that this will occur.

But it's been widely noted that President Obama will be taking over a wounded nation; by what measure should we judge his ability to lead us towards a brighter future?