Three things I like about President Obama

1. He's Black. Or bi-racial, or African-American or Kenyan-American. Whatever you want to call his ethnic background, his mother was Euro-American secularist and his father was a Kenyan Muslim, many of us thought this would never happen in our life time--not even Jesse Jackson or Michelle Obama. It hasn't improved race relations one iota, but in that sense it's good, because it shows character and politics trump race. Something conservatives had figured out before the election of 2008. Even black Republicans voted for him for that reason--and are now sorry.

2. He's married to the mother of his children and from all public appearances, is a better father than he is a President. This will be a lasting legacy, and I hope young men of all races and politics imitate him.

3. Barack Obama has given conservatives and libertarians a kick in the pants that they needed to put down the remote and the golf club and figure out what they believe and why! Whether you call them Tea Party, or 9/11 groups or grass roots conservatives, many are paying attention for the first time. Some voted for the first time realizing they've sold out their core beliefs for the good life. This is positive, even though Democrats denigrate citizen involvement unless they've organized them and taken their money. We conservatives now know or will soon learn:
Our American history, including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Federalist Papers

FDR and LBJ were among our worst presidents growing this wet snow ball known as incapacitating entitlements

RINOs are not our friends and should be voted out of office for the sin of bipartisanship and "crossing the aisle."

Medicare and Social Security are bloated, corrupt and a huge part of our deficit problem (so Tea Partiers need to stop gripping about cutting them)

The role of the Supreme Court in our problems

How special entitlements from federal block grants to summer lunch programs have hurt minorities and low income

How the government helped create the last housing bubble and is doing all the wrong things to correct it

The relationship of church and state--stop looking at the buttons on the uniform and pay attention to the real battles

What are our property rights

How important to the economy are small businesses

Cooperation is growing among Christian groups that formerly quarrelled about everything from baptism to the Pope

People are really looking at local issues like city council, library boards, schools, zoning and seeing all politics are local and knowledge begins at home

Conservative women cadidates are more popular, knowledgeable and well known than liberal--and they've earned their spots instead of riding in on coat tails

Life issues like abortion, sex slavery, stem cell research, and euthanasia have made the Republicans the party of the "least of these" and the Democrats the party of the rich and powerful.