John you sound really worried that Obama may not win next time round, he's not even inaugurated yet. I agree though, they may not want him, they might, he might actually be some of what is claimed, though I do believe he's been built up too much, we'll see I guess.

Do you really believe it was Obama that came up with all the "cool" technologies, or do you think it was a marketing company or some other hired gun? Much like our local politics, the ALP has stage managed the media into a tame domestic toy they can control at will, see the lack of questioning of out current government for almost a year. The media managers from NSW have moved to Canberra now and are paid to win the daily news cycle, cynical as that is, I do believe the ALP now just assumes they can control the media and thus the constituency.

Did I miss something in this article? Why does Obama need to win over the Clintons - I saw no reference till the last line with this cryptic comment.

What a marvelous article on the shifting sands of politics. This article demonstrates how the WWW is undermining the mainstream media, and creating opportunities for the promulgation of ideas, that led to the election of the First African American President. Some Churches in Australia, one in particular have embraced this modern online technology, and harnessed it to maintain contact with the flock. Likewise KR is readily accessible by way of his online contact page, and there is evidence that a post on that page actually gets read and where sensible suggestions are made actioned.

The dirty underbelly of government that a tame media will not talk about, is getting an airing by way of blogs and text messaging, online exchanges of information and the structures of society are changing rapidly. Obama is a symptom, not the cause. Education is the key to greater participation, and many of the two percentile who lead any population are now totally computer literate, and computer take up in Australia is phenomenal. The Mayan Calendar, an amazingly accurate calendar that goes back to the Big Bang, claims that in 1999, a new era was entered where change occurs every year, not at twenty year, or four hundred year intervals. It predicts a stabilization, if not the end of the world in 2012. 0f course there have always been those who prophesy that the Second Coming is imminent. The Mayans and Olmecs simply did not know what is going to happen after 2012. Nor really does anyone else; God alone knows.

There are many Prophets who make predictions, and we have had to endure them, but the world structure is circular. Atoms have electrons which go in circles. The world is round and made of atoms, the solar system is full of circles, traveling in circles. The Milky Way is circling. It would seem that the circling is coming to a centre. It is unlikely to implode. What is really important is that thinking human beings have access to the maximum amount of information, so they can make a fully informed decision on their next move