Pig wrestling.

The old adage goes, "Never wrestle with a pig because you'll only get muddy and the pig enjoys it."

As usual, I'm going to ignore good advice.

Yesterday we had an anonymous visitor, what we used to call a troll in the early days. Then, as now, it's best not to engage trolls because they crave attention and have no interest in doing anything but toss crap about, like the other lower apes.

But he touched on something serious, something that deserves a response. He asked why I don't scorch Obama the way I used to scorch Bush. The most obvious answer is that Obama isn't Bush, thank God, but that doesn't mean I'm ecstatic about everything Obama's done. Yesterday's weasel on gay rights is a good example. I think he's playing too cautious with what is a basic civil rights issue.

There are other issues where Obama and I depart. But before we get into that, let's hear from our anonymous troll and his speculation as to why I've been less political this year than I was last, besides last year was an election year, that is:

"...you realized that your boy "the Messiah" has proven to be even worse than Rush and Sean told you he would be."

OK. First, he's not my boy. He's no one's boy except his momma's. To use that word in relation to a grown African American man brands you as a racist jackass. Second, I never suggested he was the Messiah. I don't believe in Messiahs.

And if Rush or Hannity told me that water was wet, I'd have to stick my hand in before I believed them.

Obama is not the Messiah. He's a politician. I know what to expect from politicians and that's compromise. That's if the politician is any good.

No politician is going to make me happy all the time. I'm just a blogger with an opinion. He's a politician who has to maneuver his way through a maze of competing constituents while wankers like Anonymous toss poo from the sidelines.

When I was young, back in the early days of the Nixon administration, I bitched about Dick being a dick. My uncle, a wise man, said that Nixon was a politician, and when we elect politicians we should expect them to act like politicians. As the scorpion said to the frog, you knew what I was when you offered me the ride.

The reason I voted for and supported Obama is that he was the first politician since I've been old enough to vote who didn't want to refight the sixties. I think that's why he did so well with young people. We're all heartily sick of refighting the same old battles. This forward look was refreshing.

Now that he falls short is disappointing, yes. But he's a politician. They are inherently disappointing. Back to Anonymous:

"He ignores the constitution, scoffs at the free market system, seeks to limit free speech, is on a mission to enact a healthcare system that has failed miserably all across Europe and in Canada ..."

One at a time.

He ignores the Constitution - I really don't like that Obama has extended the Bush policy on wiretapping, holding prisoners without trial, and a handful of other things. I think a lot of it is unConstitutional. But if that's ignoring the Constitution, the previous administration made it into a pinata.

Part of the problem is that the Bush people created a completely new category of prisoner - not criminal, not POW, but a limbo detainee where laws are selective and men are held at the whim of the president. Obama, a man who knows the Constitution, is trying to figure out a way to get those people back under the rule of law and it's not easy.

He scoffs at the free market system - Obama was handed a pretty shitty stick when he took office. Both parties had spent a lot of money rescuing banks and bankers. Now he's throwing money trying to rescue GM after decades of mismanagment. I don't think he's scoffing at the free market. I think he's trying to rescue it. This after the free marketeers like Anonymous had treated the market the way a baby treats a diaper.

He seeks to limit free speech - Really? It's tough to argue this when you give no examples. More poo-flinging.

He is on a mission to enact a healthcare system that has failed miserably all across Europe and in Canada - Wow, Anon, your Scopes link pretty much debunked your assertion that the Canadian healthcare system is a miserable failure and even your second source, no fan of Canada's system said this about our own:

"There’s no question that American health care, a mixture of private insurance and public programs, is a mess. Over the last five years, health-insurance premiums have more than doubled, leaving firms like General Motors on the brink of bankruptcy. Expensive health care has also hit workers in the pocketbook: it’s one of the reasons that median family income fell between 2000 and 2005 (despite a rise in overall labor costs). Health spending has surged past 16 percent of GDP. The number of ininsured Americans has risen, and even the insured seem dissatisfied. "

Not quite a ringing endorsement of our way, is it, Anonymous? And this was your source.

I was in the Army for almost 3 years and I know how dismal socialized medicine can be. But the people in France and Scandinavia seem quite happy with their health care systems.

Are you suggesting that they're smarter than we are, that they've somehow managed to do something that is beyond our intelligence and skill? Because that sounds like you hate America, Anonymous. That sounds like you think we're second-rate compared to France, and that can get you shot in some counties in Texas.

I, on the other hand, think America is quite capable of crafting a healthcare system that works.

But if you think Obama is trying to build that European model, you could not be more wrong. No, Obama's health plan uses the free market to spur insurance companies to compete with the same insurance coverage we give Republicans in Congress. He's not going for single-payer, and I think that's a mistake and I've written as much.

But Obama is smarter than both of us (judging by your comments) and he's been proven right before by going for what's practical versus what is ideological. In other words, he compromises. And that may just be a way out of the mess he's inherited.

But if you want to keep flinging around opinions that smell like you pulled them straight out of your ass, you go right ahead, Anonymous.

One last thing that bothered me about your comments: Your interpretation of Obama's failure is a little too gleeful for someone who wishes the best for his country. I think that glee reveals you to be more partisan than patriot.

But then true patriots have the guts to sign their names to their opinions.

Tomorrow: Making people you love laugh every day.