In response to the response (Obama: Visionary, not fraudulent) to my column (Barack Obama: Presidential special interest whore): “Szarzynski's claim that Obama shares Cheney's poor position on gay rights is intellectually dishonest and an insult to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.” Wait, so you support a candidate who opposes gay marriage (i.e. legal equality for gay Americans) and I’m the one who is insulting the LGBT community? Right. (Just curious: Do you, Ami, like your candidate, also oppose gay equality?) It’s also comforting to know that Obama is “willing to use force if necessary” and kill civilians on my behalf, because, you know, the threat of getting killed in a terrorist attack is up to, like, one in a million now. Indeed, he must “fight them over there, so we don’t have to fight them over here.” It’s not US actions which cause resentment against America, it’s our “freedom.” It is, after all, easy to see how a poor Arab half a planet away could become infuriated by the first amendment. His frustration has nothing to do with our support for Israel, authoritarian regimes, military presence, economic policies, etc. It’s that we’re free. Glad to see that Obama doesn’t believe in these so-called root causes of terrorism and just wants to send kids off to war. “In closing, I want to address the negativity at the foundation of Szarzynski's piece instead of continuing to refute each distortion.” Yeah, why bother with substance? Fashionable politics is so much easier. “Students deserve to be inspired.” Well now, I guess I see the validity in that statement. A guy who who praises the WTO, votes to build walls along our border with Mexico, supports apartheid regimes, has a neocon’s salivation for Iran and believes corporations need more protection from lawsuits – now, that’s inspiring. A final note: Voting for Obama with a clear understanding of what he is – a lesser evil – is one thing. But doing so under the assumption that he is a genuinely progressive force and that his election is the end-all of the political struggle is just plain delusional. But don’t tell Ami.