Body Painting Women Isurance

Barack Obama is president is because when the U.S. economy was falling off a cliff, he was the adult in the room, and John McCain wasn't. When the stock market imploded in September 2008, McCain, who had just earned a shoot-from-the-hip reputation for picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, flailed. He couldn't decide what policies to back. He put his campaign on hold, then quickly reversed himself. He was clueless. Obama, on the other hand, eschewed the drama, joined the chorus of convention in favor of the too-hastily-constructed bailout for Wall Street, and came across as a steady and mature fellow.

Wednesday, Obama -- pointing to the bipartisan wins he achieved this week with the ratification of the START nuclear arms treaty, the passage of the 9/11 responders health bill, and the repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy -- repeatedly talked about the need for D's and R's to work together in Washington and find compromises -- even if such compromises, such as the tax-cut deal Obama struck with the GOPers, contain provisions that are profoundly distasteful to one side or the other. "If there's any lesson to draw from these past few weeks, it's that we are not doomed to endless gridlock," he said. "We've shown, in the wake of the November elections, that we have the capacity not only to make progress, but to make progress together."

Monday -- while Congress was contending with a series of important bills -- McConnell was making threats. Speaking of the Senate Democrats, he said, "There's much for them to be angst-ridden about. If they think it's bad now, wait till next year." The fellow who has engineered a record-breaking number of filibusters was not talking about cooperation and seeking common turf with Obama and the Democrats. McConnell, whose Republicans will still be in the minority within the Senate next year, was immodestly acting like a bully and aiming for capitulation: "If the president is willing to do things that we believe in, I don't think we're going to say, 'No, Mr. President

Obama scored so well in that poll because he's acting like the grown-up in Washington. He's dealing with a difficult political reality and achieving results. The months ahead will be full of challenges, especially with a Republican House led by John Boehner, who has yet to signal his grand strategy for the coming year. The issues and circumstances that arise may be tougher terrain for Obama than those of the glorious lame-duck era. But the president is heading into the second half of this presidential term with force and poise.