The News Conference

Well, he certainly seems to have a command of the facts, and he certainly sounds reasonable.

I liked his answers about not wanting to be in the car business and the banking business....I hope he abides by them.

He surely wants to be in the health care business though...so I wonder why he feels more qualified for that business than the others?

His answer to the NY Times question on what is troubling, enchanting, humbling, etc was great.

My biggest complaint though is in the way he portrays Republican opposition (it's funny, at one point in answer to another question, he said he didn't want to build a "straw man", but that's exactly what he does with Republican opposition). He wants us all to believe that it is HE who is reasonable and accommodating, that the Republicans are mad because HE doesn't accept their positions lock, stock, and barrel. This is of course, nonsense. The problem hasn't been that Republican positions haven't been adopted wholesale; Republican opposition springs from the fact that Republicans feel that their positions don't INFLUENCE the final bills.

All in all, a solid, smooth performance. And I'm glad he didn't call on that little old troll in the front row.