Obama's very bad June suggests two possibilities: He may be one of the more unprincipled politicians we've seen recently - remember, Obama once mocked the Clintons for their prevarications, saying "They don't tell you what they mean." Or perhaps his mistakes are honest - which would make the Obama campaign one of the more intellectually disorganized enterprises in recent presidential history.

It's unclear which prospect is greater cause for concern.

 

Reading Obama side-by-side with Frank Church seems to reveal Obama as devoid of understanding, and gives rise to serious concerns about his views on executive power.

It would be nice for him to flip back to what he promised pre P.Nom.

Perhaps it was not wise of her to do so.

Another debate right now between the two of them might yield yet even more insight into both the candidates.

However, on the issue of personal privacy, I'm absolutely down with the principle that one's vote is nobody else's beeswax until cast, and even afterwards except for the scrupulous counting of it.

BTD always plays it close to the vest, though.

Not dressing you down here; this is more of a passing innoculant and reminder for the Obama fans who descend daily, imperiously demanding explanations of how HRC supporters intend to vote and just in case we're thinking blah blah blah how dare we blah blah blah.

This seems just so fundamental to me. It is at the foundation of our culture, of what we are as a nation.

  He felt the media was stronger for Obama and that does continue to be true.  Right now most of them are excusing him or sighing over how wise he is to try to get the votes of those on the other side.

  So, BTD and others will have very conflicting thoughts about all this.  That's his right, and I prefer to 'hear' his thinking as it goes.

  There's little denying that McCain is a horror-show right now, but Obama is drawing close because he appears to be totally devoid of principle whatsoever, while selling his fancy medicine (no FDA trials or anything -- all it requires is you 'believe in' the salesman).  As he smiles and preens.

  At the same time I've little doubt he would trend more toward my thinking on issues, but I've no faith in his character, so I don't plan, at this point, to vote 'for' him.   I just do not trust this man.

 And especially I do not plan to vote, essentially, for  the DNC's actions this year, especially Brazile and Dean, who acted like the Mafia in their methods, with such pride over them.  That's -not- a party I would align with.  It was against the DNC charter to do what they did, reassigning delegates, and especially taking them away from a candidate who had earned the votes.  It was a slap in the faces of party regulars.

  Obama is a living representative of this kind of open connivance and disrespect for decency when choosing a 'party' candidate.

One of my favorite things Maya Angelo said about people (not in a poem at least) is that they will always tell you who they are, if you just listen. The problem, she said, is we don't tend to listen, we tend to hear what we want to hear. But the person really is telling us who they are.

1. The headcount shows that Obama cannot win the election with his core supporters; not enough of them & they don't turn out in high percentages.
   
2. Get Out the Vote won't work because you never know who the new voter will choose.  [I joke that the Democrats registered a million Florida voters between 2001 & 2004, then 600,000 of them voted for Bu$h.]
   
3. Internal Obama campaign polling almost certainly shows that the zealous trashing of brandname "Clinton"  (on behalf of Dean, Kerry, & Kennedy) guaranteed many Hillary supporters will NEVER vote for Obama.  [This is now evident in national polls also.]
   
4. The campaign staff learned or discovered in the primaries that they cannot win elections with money--they have to "convert" voters.
   
5. The state party chairs are telling them that losing millions of registered Democrats, & those membership fees, is destroying the local campaigns.

People flocked by the millions during the primaries irrationally to Obama for one reason and one reason alone: they thought (through the prism of their hope) that he was the leader they so desperately long for to lead them out of the morass of criminality, incompetence, lies, and deceptions that are the bush regime and today's conservative movement.

These people misconstruing Obama for the leader they want were wrong. They let their desire get the better of them by projecting onto Obama characteristics and capabilities he does not possess. Obama could some day have been a great leader, but he is no where near so today.

The past 2 weeks have demonstrated without a doubt that there is no underlying foundation of inner strength, experience, and wisdom guiding Obama. He is a pol. He is tacking to the center because a bunch of hack political consultants told him that is the way to win. What they and Obama DO NOT UNDERSTAND is that winning is NOT the goal - leadership is.

The people demand leadership. Winning would follow in a landslide from leadership. Leadership on defending the Constitution and the rule of law, leadership on ending the travesty of the Iraq invasion, leadership on the corruption and perversion of the media and the Washington political culture, leadership on moving the US from corporate contrlledd greed to quality of life for its citizens through quality healthcare for all, quality affordable education, an oil-free economy.

We can not remain silent to these abuses. As citizens, we must speak out against the FISA Capitulation. Those who would put candidate before principle here shame themselves.

Then one post later:

Obama's actions can not be excused on this matter. He has failed miserably.