It was Senator Obama falling off his pedestal. I am a strong Obama supporter, and am working as a volunteer in the campaign. He has my vote, and will continue to benefit from my donations of money and time. But I now see Mr. Obama as far closer to Bill Clinton than the Kennedys and Kings in whose image I once thought he was fashioned.

That means that we can expect not only more disturbing changes during the campaign, but a substantial January surprise after inauguration, and to inure myself, I will not be maxing out for our candidate the way I expected. Much more of what money I can afford will be supporting liberal candidates on the assumption that we will need them to pressure the new president into making the honorable decisions that should be made on principle but apparently will need to be made through yielding to pressure.

That wasn't the deal you heard breaking, Senator, it was my romanticized idol of you fashioned out of finer stuff than it appears you're really made and enshrined in a place you don't belong.

[crossposted from Senator Obama - Please vote NO on Telcom Immunity - Get FISA Right on MyBarackObama.com]

As a hardened, track-marked, ready to sell my children for a good cable connection political junkie, I spent the Primary season in a state of pugilistic, partisan euphoria.  It was an halcyon time, a time of Hillary's tenacity and Barack's nimbleness, of Romney's tin ear and Huckabee's surprisingly photogenic insurgency.  Oh, and Paul and Gravel were good for laughs, and Kucinich's wife was definitely worth some airtime.  But I digress . . .

Now is the time for withdrawal symptoms.  Shocking hallucinations of Vitter crawling across the ceiling in a diaper conspire with my shaking hands to make the death march that is the news in July unbearable.  And the impressive mishandling of John McCain's political campaign just ain't the methadone my monkey needs.

I'm fine with Obama's first salvo of national ads, but I'm also hoping for something different this year: I'd like to see an ad campaign that matches the 50-state strategy we've heard so much about.  In other words, let's see some ads that focus on the unique concerns throughout the country.

For example, there could be an ad just for Nevada slamming McCain for his pro-Yucca Flats position.  There could be an ad for Northern Virginia on Obama's plan for fixing the transportation crisis.  There could be an ad on fair trade for Michigan and Ohio.

It is hard to ignore it in this campaign.  Race.  

For the first time ever, we have a presumptive nominee who is an African American.  There is no escaping it.  Race.  

Senator Obama delivered nothing short of an inspiring speech about it.  Race.  

But don’t we live in a colorblind society?  Shouldn’t race be inconsequential?    No.  And no.

Kick the shin and win or take the bruise and sing the blues.

This'll be a short and sweet diary.

I have a simple suggestion: whenever the Democrats, us or the Obama campaign refers to anything said by John McCain's so-called "Trth Squad," we should refer to it by its most prominent member: Orson Swindle.

By The Bard of Wilmette from Eyes on Obama:

I just received a letter, calling itself an "EMERGENCY TELEGRAM", from John McCain.  Actually, it was addressed to my uncle, who died three years ago, and I figured that he would not mind my opening it.  

Why is "flip flopping" worse than being wrong? I don't understand it. Today's campaigns would have you believe flip flopping is a sin worse than death. Or being wrong for that matter. Of course, that rationalization is courtesy of one Mr. Karl Rove. You'll remember he painted John Kerry has a flip flopper back in 2004. Kerry's infamous comment on a war funding measure: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it" probably cost him the election. Basically, the American people decided they'd rather stick with the guy who got us into the Iraq mess because he never wavered in his ridiculous support of it.

cross posted at Political Newsline

"A New Kind of Politics" notwithstanding, I do believe that I just read one of the most surreal statements yet to fly out of Mccain's mouth. While skimming Google News, I came across some articles about Mccain's stance on energy policy. Obviously, whatever credibility that once lay with him has been thrown right out the window during this campaign. I was certainly not surprised to read about his bashing of Obama over "favoring" the ethanol industry while promising ever bigger handouts to Mssrs. Oil and Coal; if there's one thing that's least surprising to me any more, it's John Mccain's ability to pivot 180 degrees on any given issue. However, one quote stood out as easily as one of wackiest...

Crossposted at MyDD

This was originally a comment, but by the time I finished saying everything I felt needed saying (and by the time I'd reiterated it incessantly to make sure I was understood, as I neurotically tend to do), I realized I'd written a diary.

There's a lot of anger out there and frustration over Obama's apparent leap to the center. I've thought about writing about FISA, but the fact is what can be said has been. By the time I got up the confidence to write something, the lines were drawn and that was that.

Well I'm getting in on the ground floor of this Wesley Clark hullabaloo. Thanks in advance for reading. I'm a bit nervous but here it goes:

When I moved to my neck of the Virginia woods a dozen years ago, pickups with confederate flag stickers populated the roads and if there were any fellow aging, ex-hippie liberals in this county, we never met them.

In contrast, this past Saturday night, locals were selling "Proud to be a Democrat" t-shirts to a packed house and planning how our efforts in four rural counties could help Barack Obama win the state in November.

This is the story of one Unite For Change event, held in a Presbyterian Church all-purpose room on a hot, humid Saturday evening, four months before the general election.

Nancy 'Impeachment off the table' Pelosi has thrown the msm a big curve. Friday she endorsed Edwards for V-P.  If she had endorsed John Edwards, my personal pick, I would have had to take another look at him.

Instead endorsing the candidate who would stand up to the Republican attack machine, Nancy Pelosi endorsed a virtual unknown,  outside of Texas, longtime Congressman Chet Edwards.  I will leave it to others to vet Chet Edwards.

I have been so disappointed in our first female speaker of the house. But John Edwards? My respect for him grows daily.  He is the type of VP candidate needed to get out and fight daily to overcome the Republican hate machine.  He is optimistic, realistic, and has changed into a candidate one can depend on.  

Obama/Edwards 08

on Tuesday.  Sounds like a fairly inexperienced volunteer, coming in from out of state, and wants a read on the area and how to tone the campaign message as they hit doors in the area and so on.  I'm in southwest Ohio (Boehner's district) and wanted to see what any other Kossacks in the area might want brought up, if you don't also have meetings with him or similar reps.  I know Wulsin has some strong supporters hanging around here.  (And, BTW, he said they were going to have some sort of garden party in the backyard of one of Boehner's neighbor's, which is quite amusing.)

There ought to be a series anyone can feel free to contribute to.  So here goes.  I'm going to call it "Oh, Magoo, You've Done It Again" (OMYDIA).

Consider it a repository for the slew of bumbling, stumbling, McCain-isms (or Magoo-isms) that we have heard, are hearing and will hear more of.

Everything from confusing Iraq and Iran, Sunni and Shiite, and foolish posing about off-shore drilling being a 'feel-good' non-solution for $4-5 gas prices.

( CONTINUED BELOW JUMP )

While I respect and at one point, cared a great deal about President Bill Clinton (I still have two of his pictures hanging in my office), I resent what he and Hillary are doing with respects to Senator Barack Obama and his campaign.

They played ‘chicken’ and it appears they may have won.

Dan Abrams of MSNBC just announced as breaking news that Obama is to help pay off Clinton's debt, and that he has announced that at the meeting that he and Clinton had tonight with their top donors.

Obama had his finance chair write a $4,600 check to the Clinton campaign, donating the maximum for Michelle and himself.

Also Dan reported that Obama received standing ovation from Clinton's 200 donors at tonight's meeting, after telling them that he will help to pay off her debt.

However, there appears to be still some tensions among top donors on both sides, and also negotiations going on.

Condoleezza Rice's editorial in today's WSJ defends the administration's use of diplomacy with North Korea.

She writes: "We have no permanent enemies."

Nevermind that this may go down as the biggest Bush administration flip-flop since H.W.'s "no new taxes"...

Nevermind that Cheney is probably planning an invasion anyway...

Does Condi's stance suggest a tacit endorsement of Obama? I argue why it might after the break...

My father worked as a union worker at Caterpillar. He made a living wage and was able to provide for our family. His job sucked. In the summertime the factory was hot as hell. Most of the jobs were tedious. Right before he retired, he actually had a job he enjoyed. He tested and troubleshot finished tractors. Most days, the tractors functioned properly. But when one had a problem, and my dad had to hunt down the short in the thousands of wires, he actually felt like he was working. When he found the bad connector, replaced it, and the electical system worked right, he was happy. He would come home in a such a happy mood.

Then Reagan came.