It's always interesting to hear the differences in the interpretation of things like the President communicating with the people, depending on whether or not those with an opinion one way or the other supported the President for election or didn't.

I am not a dedicated Democrat, having voted for the presidential candidate of that party only twice in my life, in the last two elections. Among other things, I was impressed with Barack Obama's demonstrated intelligence and education. I was a bit concerned over his inexperience, but I have been more than pleased with the speed with which he has staffed his administration with experienced and qualified people. Is he on a learning curve? Absolutlely, just as any first-term President might be.

What has been more pleasing to me has been his willingness and ability to speak frequently to the American public, explaining complex situations, how he reached the plans his admnistration has adopted to deal with them, and answering questions they might have. During the period between the election and his inauguration, he had a press conference almost every day, it seemed. He was addressing the problems facing the country, while the sitting President was almost completely silent on any issue until a press conference at the very end of his term which was mostly designed to fluff up his legacy as President and certainly did not address any problem or issue, even peripherally.

So now we have the President out "stumping", as you call it, encouraging Americans who are experiencing the brunt of the financial problems we're facing to support the stimulus plan by contacting their elected representatives, and also answering and explaining questions that the public has regarding the plan. He made two speeches in two of the cities in America that have the highest unemployment rates and who might likely benefit most from economic stimulus. Using Air Force 1, I'd guess that he was able to accomplish both speeches in less than a half day for each, including travel time. Frankly, I find it refreshing that we have a President who is both willing and able to explain issues facing the country, even complex ones, in a way that can be understood by everyone. It might have been best described by a close friend of mine, a lifelong Republican and what I would describe as a far-right conservative who said to me, "...how pleasant it was to listen to a president string together more than 5 words in a sentence, think on his feet and generally handle himself in a news conference without too much smirking and mispronunciation of simple words and confusion of ideas."

Like I said, the differences in interpretation of the same set of facts is interesting.