That's pretty much the explanation I've been deducing. Anything to return the Republican party to the former Northeastern "keep-watch-on-the-pursestrings wing" and take it away from the Bible-thumping wing down here in Texas would be a good thing, in my opinion.

In the meantime, Obama is going to win. And since that happens, I'd like to see him be successful. That will take some amount of compromise and shrewd use of his political moment. It will/would certainly mean walking a line closer to the political center.

Funny thing is that while his record doesn't indicate such, I really get the impression that he has the skill to do just that. It's a bit scary given his lack of track record, but . . .

Any Republicans who go on the immediate offensive low road, in his first semester, go right to my "do-not-vote-for-under-any-circumstances" list. It'll be fun to see which Texans jump on that bandwagon. I'm a firm believer in giving the winning party at least their two-year window before launching into any major criticisms. The system can't work otherwise.