Hopeoverexperience Edinburgh 5 hours ago
Allow me as a foreigner to comment briefly on this column. It is complete and utter rubbish. From where I sit I believe Obama has been an exceptional President in contrast to his woeful predecessor. Following the US political scene even from here it is clear that he was never to be afforded the common decency normally expected from the other side in Congress. They have been just appalling his entire tenure and have caused what could have been a profoundly productive seven years to be something less. For Maureen Dowd to suggest President Obama is aloof is ridiculous. What I see from here is a highly intelligent man of integrity and sound judgement, a role model husband and father and actually someone with a real human touch. America and the world will be the poorer come the end of his Presidency and certainly there is no one on the horizon who could come close to filling his shoes.

Bonnie Mass. 5 hours ago
I want a President who can remain calm in a crisis. I think Obama was right not to respond emotionally to all the absurd obstructionism of the Congress. His main "weakness" is that he is a serious person trying to fix major national and international problems. The other party doesn't want to fix anything. It is not his fault that the Republicans have degenerated to their current state of incapacity to do anything but block progress. The insults to which Obama and his family have been subjected by the right wing are not worth responding to. They reveal nothing about the Obamas, but a great deal about the sleazy people who said the insults. The Obama family have been a sophisticated class act showing grace under extreme pressure. I certainly do not prefer a highly emotive President who, as GW Bush, listens to his gut, and wages war for incoherent reasons.

petey tonei Massachusetts 2 hours ago
He embodies the Bhagavad Gita's lesson on detachment, attending to tasks dutifully, without expecting credit or ownership. He also understands the Buddha's Middle Way, rejecting the extremes for the more moderate affective path. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii where these ancient truths become part of the culture and spirit. It is hard for westerners to even begin to understand the depth of his "cool and detached manner" because they haven't been exposed to anything like it before, all their previous leaders have been idols and models straight out of Hollywood plots. Bellicose, macho, show of power with military might and basically devoid of empathy and compassion or the acknowledgement that we are ALL in it together.