nice essay, frank, your writing's getting more punch per pixel.
i disagree with your points on two counts, first i don't think you're giving obama enough credit for his push for a new green deal economy, (which i think he should emphasise much, much more, indeed make it the linchpin of his campaign), and secondly, i believe if he were white, he would be ahead 20 points by now, and mcpalin would be staring at certain, humiliating defeat.

obama was not as tough against bill o'reilly as i would have liked, though in the main he did well.

billo used every bullying trick in his arse-nal, and quite frankly made barack codependent for a few horrible seconds, talking about war, pressing him crassly till barack had to praise the surge, and appear to admit his decision not to support it was misguided.
it was infantile bill's gotcha point, and he would have pounded the walls in pain if he hadn't made obama concede, but i think barack could have held faster, pity.

he's walking an incredible tightrope, and doing so with consummate grace, imo. he can't be too mean, or too above-it-all, baying critics begging for him to falter and fall. he has a great sense of humour, which is his greatest asset.

events are accelerating faster than the CERN beams, and he's not elected yet, maybe he knows he needs to wait till realities have disintegrated further, before enough americans are discombobulated enough to really tune and listen to this once-a-century politician, and then vote him in to become the statesman i believe he has the potential to become, if given the chance.

 it's for the whole world's sake, not just the usa...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty