60 Minutes

President Obama on 60 Minutes tonight made me feel less hysterical, more confident, and reassured me that while he is only human, he is the best person to have in the White House at this time. I couldn't imagine John McCain giving the interview that Obama gave tonight. Relaxed, intelligent, clear, and determined, without being combative or partisan. Here is a link to the first portion of the interview by Steve Kroft, which wasn't hardball, although Obama had the opportunity to show his stuff.

Obama really is the "decider." When asked how many decisions he has to make daily, he couldn't say. The only people who get a meeting to see him are people who are faced with really difficult decisions, ones that need his input. His biggest frustration is that too many decisions are based on bad and worse options, because of decisions that were made before he got to the White House. He wasn't any more specific than that. Here is a link to the second part of the interview.

When asked about Dick Cheney's comments that his decision to close Guantanamo and to end "enhanced interrogations" is making America less safe, Obama was unambiguous in standing firm to American ideals of justice and international law. Cheney is obviously trying to turn the issue of whether he and Bush, along with Rumsfeld, Bybee, Yoo, and Rice, committed war crimes and violated American law, into a political issue and not one of criminal liability.

I Want to Be Sedated!

While my daughter and I attended the New York City Ballet's The Nutcracker last night at Lincoln Center, I missed the inspiration of the season: 60 Minutes of Barack Obama's rise from an obscure Illinois State Senator to President-Elect of the United States of America.

I adore The Nutcracker, although I must say that I had to take a hiatus for several years when my daughter reached those creepy mid-tween years. My friend Nicky helped me out and took her for two years. But this year, my daughter and I went together, got great seats last minute, and surrounded by little princesses in their velvet smocks, accompanied by their mothers with admirable bodies, we enjoyed George Balanchine's first choreographed full length ballet, danced, of course, to Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky's score.

It's over the top, but at the last scene, I cried, as I always do. The ballet is thrilling.

What we missed, however, was the 60 Minutes show about Obama. This afternoon an old friend called to wish me a happy New Year.

"A new year, a new war," I moaned as I surfed through the newest headlines about Gaza.

"I'm sending you a link. Watch it!"

And I did with my husband this evening while he made dinner. It worked. I feel much more optimistic again. With Obama on vacation in Hawai'i, I had lost confidence that we could ever find our way through the morass.

So I want to share it with you, too, click here for the link.