I'm a huge fan of Marc Andreessen and I have no doubt that his thoughtful endorsement of Barack Obama [ blog.pmarca.com: An hour and a half with Barack Obama ] will have great influence. However, I suspect that many who follow Marc were already persuaded by more emotional "anything but Republican" feelings and had made up their minds anyway. I can relate to that, that's how I felt after eight years of Clinton. What I like about Obama is that, with McCain, for a change after nearly sixteen years he gives us two decent candidates that we might actually be proud of. In my mind, both could be acceptable leaders. I sincerely hope that they have a thoughtful and civil debate which helps us all sort out the right way forward for America. Marc's characterization of Obama made me think about why it is that I support McCain and I'm grateful to Marc for that. Of course I was not fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to meet McCain personally as Marc did wit