Letting my grumpy guard down.

• Author: Clinton, Kate
• Position: Unplugged - Opinions regarding United States President Barack Obama's presidency - Essay

The morning the Norwegians announced that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought of my niece. When she was five years old, she was having difficulties learning to read. I asked my brother what the problem was, and he said, "Turns out, there are a few letters she doesn't agree with." He said she had issues with both consonants and vowels. She found the lowercase letter "e" most loathsome.

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My niece's stance surprised me. I had never thought opposition to the alphabet was an option. When I heard the vehement reaction to the peace prize, I was surprised again. I didn't know that was a public option. I had naively forgotten the uproar that greets the peace prize every year. You can't have anything nice anymore.

One gal's naivete is another gal's optimism. When I watched the craven cave-ins in the health care debate, I hoped for a last minute Spine Flu vaccination that could isolate the plague of insurance and big pharma, and embolden legislators to pass a plan that would be a true monument to the lifelong work of Ted Kennedy. Silly me.

When I watched the banksters take $700 billion and then give themselves bonuses for their performance while ignoring calls for regulation, I was glad that my monthly portfolio statement includes one sheet saying, "This page left intentionally blank." It's like a Hazmat glove. It helps me get the dang thing out of the envelope and into a hanging file without ever having to look at the descending steps of the graph of my very individual retirement fund.

When Obama appeared at a big-ticket cummerbundestag D.C. dinner, I had my usual gay schizophrenia: excited he was there, yet suspicious due to old Clinton collateral damage. Obama reassured the crowd that his Administration had a plan to repeal the Clinton-era Don't Ask Don't...