The 1968 play I saw today made me feel very proud to be a Minnesotan, actually. We had Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey. These guys made me think of other Minnesotans I'm proud of. People like Walter Mondale and the great and inspiring Paul Wellstone. Now I'm represented by Al Franken, who consistently stands up for my values and ideals. Tim O'Brien, a Minnesotan, wrote beautifully about the difficulty of being a veteran in his many books about Vietnam. The play reminded me that we need to take really good care of our Iraq and Afghanistan vets, even if it costs money.

I was glad to hear that our current president is committed to doing this. In fact, Barack Obama reminded us that we can't park the bus. We have to keep working for a better world. I hope that the President will be massively aggressive to achieve his agenda. I hope he has learned that negotiating and compromising with republicans will only hurt us all.