Great post Eli, right on target. You're damn right I was hoping he'd come after Hillary from the left. God damn, what an overall disappointment.

Obama's thing is to push for authentically progressive positions but frame them in common ground ways that don't alienate conservatives. Like being a pro-gay candidate but not being willing to exclude people who support pro-equality positions but aren't ready to endorse homosexuality as "moral" or whatever. Maybe it's harder for dyed-in-the-wool liberals to find this exciting, but as a solution to the dumbass polarization and bogus "culture war" mentality that has plagued american politics, it's thrilling to me.

This might be a liability in the primary, but in the general it's a recipe for victory. That's why Obama's doing better than Hilary in all the matchups, according to Zogby.

If it's just a bunch of typical Democrats running, then I'll take the one that I think is most likely to win. That's Hillary Clinton. But I don't just want someone who can win and then turn around and screw the interests of liberals, gays and lesbians, and other key Democratic constituencies. That was dispiriting enough when Bill Clinton did it, even if the unrelenting horrors of Bush have made us forget. I want somebody who will lead the country and move us to a place where we can stop playing defense and start solving our real problems. Pandering to bigots should be off the agenda, period, for all the candidates.

If Obama starts talking about prayer in schools, an end to abortion, or a need to teach intelligent design is schools, then I'll be concerned. The last thing I want is a politician to pander to the shrillest noise - regardless of the group making noise.

Anybody who thinks Hillary is better on the issue of gay rights, they're not paying attention.

For those who say that the Obama apoligists would feel different if a Republican asked McClurkin to participate, you're probably right because all many Republicans have ever done is preach hate.

Speaking of that, what about Hillary's flag burning amendment? Talk about pandering.

The MSM is still fixated on crowning Clinton and Guilani as "our picks" for President - that's Obama's biggest problem.

Their voting records are identical. The difference is how they're cultivating the evangelical vote, particularly among African Americans. She's got bigoted supporters, but she's not sponsoring events where they rail against gays, and she's not supporting soft bigotry by making dumb-ass comments about how it's just the unhappy gays that her supporter is preying on. She's either savvy enough to avoid saying shit like that on the record and disciplined enough to keep her supporters from embarrassing her, or she actually believes what she says. Obama has either lost control of his campaign or is triangulating against gays and lesbians in order to improve his prospects in evangelical strongholds such as South Carolina. That makes Hillary a better candidate for the interests of gays and lesbians.

Yep, Hillary's cold and calculating where Obama's warm and sincere. I almost hope she wins so I can watch her sell gays down the river like Bill did with DADT. Enjoy your closet, gays!