Thank you for this brilliant article. The world needs to realize that behind this message of hope, Barack Obama caters to the extreme left, and his knowledge of key issues such as Iraq is not good enough.

Fred Siegel's deep contempt for various age groups is bewildering. Newsflash: all generations have bright and dull bulbs in them.

He speaks of "'old-time liberal warhorses' who never forgave Bill Clinton..." - look at Bill's endorsement of Joe Lieberman, who has in turn now endorsed McCain! That's proof that Bill's vision isn't 20/20. Contrary to what Fred Siegel says, it isn't "music to [my] ears" that the Clintons are proving themselves lacking in both scruple and understanding, it's sad. I liked them.

Fred Siegel gesticulates at Hillary's centrist voting record, and describes Barack as too far to the left, as if this means that some independents and Republicans might consider her. Wake up. She's the most reviled woman in the country; a third of our nation has said it will never vote for her. She has no appeal to the middle. The more we get to know her, the less appeal she has even to the left.

Where to start with the slew of absurd assertions Fred makes? "Education funding has increased dramatically in the last 20 years"? In which state? And how about after you factor out special-ed? He attacks JFK? He attacks Obama for asserting that blaming low wages on immigrants is scapegoating?

The only person angrier and less appealing than Hillary is Fred Siegel.

What a great article. Tonight I heard Tom Daschle say how wonderful it was that people were giving Obama their "hearts and souls." I heard Kate Michelman say he would change the country in a "cosmic" way. I heard Robert De Niro say Obama allowed him to have hope again.

I have worked in politics a long time, and I have greatly admired some politicians, but this is starting to turn into reverence, a far different and scarier thing.

Superb piece. An insightful peg -- left and right partisans joined in an anti-Clinton attack -- on which to lay out our current political topography.

As a Republican who is well aware that the Democrats might win, I want them to nominate the best candidate they have. Unfortunately, Hillary and Obama are the only choices on offer. It is not "Clinton derangement syndrome" to suggest that Hillary Clinton is both corrupt in the conventional sense and interested only in her own and her husband's power - it's a conclusion many liberals, conservatives, and moderates have all managed to agree on.

Hillary Clinton as president would set back the cause of women in government by 50 years. I'll take a pleasant, inexperienced lightweight instead.