It's going to be four long years, Mark. For me his biggest vulnerability is Afghanistan. I haven't yet heard a coherent explanation as to why, yet again, it's ONLY WE who are fighting a war half way across the globe. Why isn't Mr. Popularity garnering a U.N. driven approach, or at least something resembling a true coalition of concerned nations sharing the burden equally, to dealing with Afghanistan and the many other troubled areas on the planet that are in need of intervention? If we continue going it alone this administration is going to lose the moral high ground faster than you can say "military industrial complex."

I really don't care whether the public thinks Obama is a good president or not. What people think does not define the President. What I care about is how the Congress is going to change the health care system, and why Obama is going to base his government insurance on the studies that are done daily on every aspect of our lives. Already, I am 74 years old and am denied a booster pneumonia shot even though I am very active for my age and have some health problems related to allergies and asthma. I wasn't any part of the study that said people over 70 don't benefit from a pneumonia shot, yet I am a victim of its ruling.

There are a lot of people who are judging the president just on the health care issue, hence his ratings have gone down, and I am wondering just what is in the bill, and why the hundreds of pages are so secret. Is the bill written in some other language than English? Newspapers are not printing the actual bill language and letting us decide if it's a bill we can live with. Thus there is a cloud of fear hanging over the American people because they are getting misinformation and perceptions. Also, there are 750,000 children (recent Express News Article) in Texas that are eligible for Medicaid and haven't signed up for it. Why does the president insist these children do not have access to health care!

I heard the president in one of his press conferences or one of his speeches on TV that state government insurance coverage would be based on studies, and that if the study didn't say it would help the people it studied or a person was too sick to get any relief from it, you would be denied that medicine and if you went to a doctor and paid for the medicine out of your own pocket, you would be fined. And now I read an article in the San Antonio Express News that states that a Federal Committee decided that swine flu vaccine (paid for by the government) will be given to healthy people under 65 if there is enough vaccine for all. In any case, people over 64 will be denied vaccine because the study said that people over 64 do not get or not bothered by swine flu. People over 64 may get regular flu shots, thank you very much.

Am I crazy--is there really that much difference between 64 and 65. Has anyone done a study to find out what that difference is?

Just tongue in cheek, I'm sure: the Express News has separated the Grandmas from a "We." The Froma Harrup column in today's (Aug 1) Express News is entitled "Really, Grandma, We Wouldn't Kill You" which has an ominous ring. Perhaps you could explain why the Express News thinks "We" have the power to kill "Grandma?" Thank you Express News for not killing Grandma today.

Hey, I guess government insurance will be handing out a lot of dark chocolate, so we over 64 will die happily. ;-)

I am an avid watcher of the PBS Lehrer News Hour, and I always enjoy your thoughts, which is why I singled you out to write this comment. I found this web site thanks to Froma Harrup's column. She includes this website at the bottom of the "Kill Grandma" column.

Sincerely, Margaret Rifleman prifle@sbcglobal.net

Sorry, Mark. Love you but hate this article. It's interesting stuff, of course, but it's been repeated in so many places that it was a waste of time here.