Ok, I am so far behind now on my Time Magazines that I have started a "Time: the Lost Issues" pile, which currently includes one May, three July, and two August issues. I have two October issues to read, plus the newest, dated October 27. So I have no business being in that most recent issue, but with a cover referencing presidential history, I paged through it over my dinner this evening. (I think that maybe there's a book for me to write about presidential history one of these years. I hope so.)

I can't wait to read the articles about lessons to be learned from the Great Depression and about presidential temperament. Didn't have time to read them tonight, but I did read the Michael Kinsley commentary on The Leader We Deserve. He was talking about the qualities of leadership that we need, and that too often, the election process works against. Qualities like being able to tell us, American citizens, things that we don't want to hear.

And the quality of, dare we say it for fear of sounding elitist, intelligence. Kinsley says, "Call it intellectual curiosity, perhaps, or a willingness to engage with complicated ideas. This financial crisis is extremely complicated. Surely the best and brightest can screw up, as they famously did in Vietnam. But four decades later (and after eight years of George W. Bush), maybe we can agree that on balance it would be a plus to have a President who is smart. Maybe even really, really smart."

I couldn't agree more. Kinsley says that "Obama and McCain are both good men. But in times like these, that isn't good enough." I think that John McCain proved himself to be a strong and courageous man during his military service and imprisonment in Vietnam. I believe that he has served America well in the U.S. Senate. I do not believe that he is what America needs in a president at this time. I believe that Barack Obama's intelligence and calm demeanor, plus his multicultural background is exactly what we need at this time. I believe he has the qualities I'd like to see in the next President of the United States.