You sure hit the nail on the head this week. As a former strong Republican, your comments echo my sentiments exactly. I doubt we're alone.

You may remember I blogged about being a truly undecided voter who ultimately chose Obama...the first Democrat I've ever punched for a Presidential election.

Since then, I've watched carefully and feel more secure in my vote and there are several reasons, but here are a couple (one showing why the fanatical Republicans have lost their min ds and the other illustrating why I think Obama may have a much better grasp on foreign policy than his predecessor):

As Larry mentions in his Ezine, the vocal and visible Republicans are absolutely destroying their credibility in the eyes of the central majority. Ann Coulter, which Larry also blogged about is a classic example.

I watched Bill Maher a few weeks ago and one of the panelists stated that the crazy Republicans on the right probably believe the murder of Dr. Tiller to simply be an abortion after birth (to laughs from the audience). The Republican on the panel that night said that nobody in their right mind would feel that way.

Darned if a couple weeks later, Ann Coulter said "I don't really like to think of it as a murder. It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester." Bill O'Reilly gave her the stage to make the comment and she barely backed away, only saying that she is "opposed to shooting abortionists, but I don't want to impose my moral values on others."

Are you kidding me??? My father gave me O'Reilly's book to read and afterward I mildly felt he was a kook. Now I'm convinced. He gave her the forum and I suspect he knew where the discussion was going as he led her to her comments. These are two of the preeminent talking-heads of the Religious Republican fanatics. To me, they aren't much different from the Islamic extremists.

One thing I've been impressed about Obama is his much clearer understanding of the intricacies of dealing with the Islamic world. He has done little things that make a huge difference in how we are interpreted in the Middle East. When W said we are on a "Crusade" after 9/11, he either had no clue how that would be translated or got lost in the heat of the moment. Either way, it was a huge mistake and probably the greatest recruitment tool for the terrorists in their "Jihad" against the west.

When Obama was photographed with his feet up on the desk talking to Netanyahu, it was perceived by some as a slight to Israel; to others (the Right Republicans) that he was disrespecting his office. When I read that, my thought was "how shrewd to make it known20the party on the other end of the line"----he could have been snapped with his feet up talking to anyone, but it happened to be the PM of Israel instead of Michelle or Gordon Brown. The second part about disrespecting the office was crushed by photos of W with his feet up.

The slight bow got attention. Wow, didn't W walk holding hands with Saudi Prince Abdullah? This was a little move to show respect that he can also denounce as being polite or as not happening at all. I like how silent the White House has been on the matter. It gets noticed though around the world.

When I listen to Obama speak about the Middle East, I get the impression he is choosing his words very carefully. How they will be translated can make a huge difference in their meaning to the people in that part of the world. There's a huge difference between saying that we are on a "very determined mission" versus a "Crusade" when it gets translated...Obama seems to understand.

So, I feel great about my vote right now. It is clear that the President understands he's got a lot of momentum right now and is using it to his advantage to push through some things and make good on a lot of campaign promises. If he can fix the economy and the Republicans keep moving farther and farther to the radical side of things, as Larry pointed out, the Republican Party will be decimated in the eyes of many people in the middle.

I a m extremely interested in how President Obama handles Iran and North Korea. As a student of History and a great believer in history repeating it, even though I wasn't born during the Kennedy years, I can't help but see history repeating itself.

We have a "cool", young, vibrant President who is compelling to the "hip" generation. The White House is very in tune with using current technology to its advantage (See Twitter, MySpace and FaceBook as powerful propaganda tools not utilized by the Conservatives)...similar to how Kennedy used early-evolving television to his advantage.

North Korea is lurking as a possible parallel to the Cuban Missile Crisis and Iran could possibly be erupting into Vietnam. What is interesting i s how will this Administration react?

I even fear that one of the Religious Right or extreme racist kooks might be able to duplicate Lee Harvey Oswald. And take a look at the VP and see if there aren't some similarities between him and Johnson...round and round we go.

Keep up the great work, Larry!