I watched all five segments, ETF, and I have to say first of all that this is a much better way to conduct debates. (Technically, I suppose one could contend they were just separate Q & A sessions, but there really isn’t much back and forth debate in the ones like we had last night either.) Each candidate gets truly good questions and has time to answer them fully, without having to contend with snide remarks from the other candidate, time limits, and/or moderator favortism.
Obama is a very likable guy. One also gets the sense that he’s a genuinely good person and one who is truly motivated to try to accomplish good things for the nation in general, as opposed to Hillary who just seems mostly to want to get her hands on the reigns of power.
Many of the things I’ve come to like about Arnold Schwarzenegger, I also see in Barack Obama. Both recognize that digging in their heels and refusing to deal with the other side accomplishes nothing. Both also recognize that it’s okay for those on the other side to feel differently than you do and that they are entitled to feel that way. Both appear to have the ability to compromise and work with the other side in order to get things accomplished. And both are charismatic and inspirational people who have the unique ability to rally people behind them in a bipartisan way and get things done.
Naturally, I would prefer Schwarzenegger (were he able to run) to Obama, because in spite of their similarities, Schwarzenegger still tilts right and Obama tilts left, and the political philosophies of the right are the ones that resonate with me.
Still, like I’ve said here before, if Obama winds up in the White House, I don’t expect to be all that unhappy about it. He’s the first democratic presidential candidate I’ve liked on a personal level since JFK, and like I’ve also said before, I believe that he will moderate some of his liberal views once he’s in office and that the republicans in congress will serve as a moderating influence as well.
So in the main, if he’s elected in the fall I won’t exactly be happy about it but I’ll be less unhappy than I’ve been with the election of any Democratic president since JFK. This feeling may change once the nominating process is over and issues actually become the focus, but for now, like I said, I’ll be okay with it if he gets elected.
You might also be interested to know, too, ETF, about a brief conversation I had a couple of months ago with a young woman I know who is about as staunch a republican as I am. (She’s twenty-one and a friend of one of my nieces’.) She asked me who I was gonna vote for and I said McCain, although I wasn’t really all that crazy about him (as a republican, that is, not as a person). She looked at me with eyes a’ twinkle and said, “I like Obama.” I told her I did, too. She said, “Wow, that’s really cool. I thought I was in for a tongue-lashing for sure.” 
She’s still gonna vote for McCain, but it does illustrate how strongly Obama resonates with people across the board. And that, I think, speaks strongly for his ability to rally people behind him and get things done in a bipartisan way, which this country really does need.
