I am also a lifelong Republican. One of my earliest memories was sitting in a booth at the Los Angeles County Fair in 1956, when my mother was working for Ike's re-election. But no more. At the Presidential level, GOP candidates are always better than their Democratic opponents, but that's damning with faint praise!

I'm with Kinky Friedman, the eccentric Jewish cowboy who ran for Governor of Texas as an Independent. He refers to the two major parties as "the Crips and the Bloods."

As for praying for Obama:

I will, like others have said, pray for him to be saved, and pray for him to change his thinking on the issues. But I won't limit my prayers to that. I'll pray for him the way I prayed for Clinton and Bush (who I greatly dislike) and the Supreme Court justices and Congressional leaders: that God will grant him safety and good health, bless his family, prosper him in an honest way, and make him a good husband, father, and man. I'll pray for God to bless him - - - although I no longer say "God bless America." We're past that point, and the Bible doesn't instruct me to pray for that.

When we limit our prayers to "God, please straighten this chucklehead out," we're not really praying for him; we're criticizing him to God. I don't think that's the kind of prayers God wants. Such prayers are a little too close to Luke 18:11 for my tastes.