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“Public Religion Research’s postelection poll indicates that Obama sharply improved on perceptions of the Democrats’ friendliness to religion,” wrote columnist William McKenzie. “Robert Jones, who heads the group, reports that 54 percent of voters saw Obama as friendly to religion, a 16 percent increase for Democrats from 2004.
“Also revealing is that more evangelicals are giving the new president a shot. About 40 percent say he shares their values and is friendly to religion. That number is impressive when you consider how reliably Republican most evangelicals have been.”

“A U.S. Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago, when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat,” wrote columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wants Barack Obama to appoint a reformer to the Agriculture Department and rename the position “secretary of food.”
“Renaming the department would signal that Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy – all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars.”