McCain's First 100 Days

It's easy to criticize Obama, but hard to imagine McCain doing much better:

John McCain, the oldest first-term president in history, is proving as rambunctious and pugnacious as the youngest one, Teddy Roosevelt. Of course, Teddy probably would have sent the Marines to Venezuela, while McCain had to make do with mugging for the cameras with an exaggerated grimace when he was forced by protocol to shake Hugo Chavez's hand at the recent hemispheric summit.

Regardless of their respective policies, I think the national mood would be a lot worse now had McCain won. I guess that's an obvious tautology, since a large majority of people voted for Obama (and would thus be understandably moody if McCain won).

But more broadly, I mean that Obama's message of hope, though often devoid of content, is actually doing a good job making people think that America's future remains bright, in a way that McCain probably couldn't have done.

So Mr. President, enjoy the compliment.