Comments on Not What the Coders Intended?

I would hope not. Setting aside how I feel about FISA, let's remember that Obama is currently a Senator. The residents of Illinois who elected him to the Senate are his constituency and those are the people he represents in his lawmaking duties -- not his fans, not members of his Presidential campaign site and not the entire US.

So the citizens of Illinois are for illegal wire taps? Not any I know of...

@2 Not my point at all. I'm just saying he should represent the people who elected him to the Senate, not the people who belong to his website.

Hammish is right. I'm against FISA too, but the day Obama starts obeying a tiny handful of web activists is the day I dump him as a candidate.

@1
r u joking? loosen up.

Oh btw if this he flip flops due to web site pressure headlines will scream Obama caves in to left" making him less electable.

He was against the bill then for it then against it etc. etc.

Would suggest everyone just work on getting him elected. Then pressure him on the web.

only a mybarackobama group of fortune 500 corporations would get his (or any senator's) attention.

People are being short-sighted. All of these holier-than-thou groups are going to ensure McCain selects the next 2 or more Supremes. And what will happen to the rights they currently have?

@7

If you aren't mad as hell over a bunch of pussy ass democrats cowing before our great (27%) leader, you're retarded.

Justify it however you want, "ohhh well that McCain guy IS WORSE@@@@!!!" but we're being fed the same bullshit from both two plates.

Hand over your constitutional rights, sit back, and watch some reality TV.

The FISA flap reminds me of how the netroots thought the McClurkin flareup would spell the end of Obama's campaign.

People are confused about their roles. It is the job of the politician to make the tough decisions. It is the job of the activist, and to an extent, the media, to make the decisions tough.

Obama is already a centrist Democrat on many, many issues and that is why he is the Democratic nominee. Those too far ahead of the party and too strident on issues shine brightly and then flame out--see Dean, Jesse Jackson, Eugene McCarthy, etc.

The power of big money and the presidency itself will make Obama increasingly centrist both during the campaign and in the White House. I wish it weren't so, but it is. Obama offers hope for new ways of looking at issues but his record in the Senate doesn't suggest he will change government policy on any large scale soon.

Activists must hold Obama accountable for his stands on the issues dear to them. If they do not he will gradually drift to the center right. Because those noisy, mean right wingers won't stop hammering at him like many on the left of him. Every poll on specific issues like health care, the war, the environment, etc. shows overwhelming support among voters for change. Yet our media paints things like universal health care as radical left ideas.

In a sense this is part of the maturing process for Barack Obama and his campaign. Like any relationship people have there is usually a beer-goggly honeymoon phase, but then you start to look at people as whole people a bit more critically.

To beat John McCain in November doesn't mean you don't care what stands or positions Obama takes to get there. It means that if you are critical of a position Barack Obama has, you should tell him so. You should also tell him what you are doing to get him elected and why. When Bush invaded Iraq he did so because he could. The media failed to ask the tough questions and accepted the lies and rationales from the administration on blind faith. And as the Boss says, blind faith will get you killed.

Bill Clinton had the first "Sister Soulja moment" where he attacked a black person just to prove to everyone that he could and would attack a black person gratuitously just for the hell of it when there wasn't really any point.

Obama this week is running a kind of "Sister Soulja clock punching", attacking Move-On just to prove he could and would attack a supporter for no useful purpose other than so show the corporate right he was willing to gratuitiously attack a lefty supporter without a necessity. And he attacked Wes Clark totally unnecessarily just to prove he wasn't going to be beholden to "dirty fucking hippies." And this FISA thing... right. I think he's already paying up his bill to the corporate masters I had finally convinced myself he might be more free of.

I have a coworker telling me to take a deep breath and wait. At best we get health care and out of Iraq. But watching his back-knifing of his sane supporters doesn't have me holding my breath.

This isn't just a "move to the center" - it is a betrayal that he wants someone to see very clearly.

Is there a mybarackobama group against this yet?: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/ap_on_el_pr/obama_faith

Bleh.

The FISA bill is so foul that anything we can do to kill it deserves a look.