Doomsday Clock

The doomsday clock is a symbolic gauge of the danger we are in, dating back to the Cold War. In 1962 during the Cuban missle crisis it was one minute to midnight. And there was no easy way of communication, no red phone, no computers. The fastest mode of communicating between Washington and Moscow was via teletype and by the time a message was deciphered, it took 12 hours to reach the other end. Historians use this as an example of how important a trait personality is in our leaders. Intelligence experts today say it is five minutes to midnight. Obama is thoughtful and deliberative in the mode of Jack Kennedy, but will he be able to turn back the clock? Stop it? Are expectations for an Obama presidency too high? Can one man bear the burden of a nation in free fall . . . like Atlas on ice skates in a melting pond?

All I know for sure is that the dog is at my feet next to the register and the lights are on.