Of course he is moving to the center. And so is McCain because they both realize that the election is going to be decided by about five percent of the electorate. They are no longer speaking to conservatives or liberals, but the middle of the country that can easily sway in a strong breeze (ergo two Bush terms).

I really liked your post.

I think many people thought that Obama was the answer to all that has gone wrong and HRC was the embodiment of what has gone wrong.

It turns out that Obama is more supportive of what is wrong than what is right, which makes this election very difficult because it may mean putting up with four more years of all that you described (Obama is on the verge of seriously backpeddling on his Iraq pledge).

Amen.

And I'd rather be at Nelson Mandela's birthday as well.

Also, both Clinton's got the shaft this time around and deserved a lot better from Democrats. Especially when one considers all that they have done for this country and for the party.

The following is one of the points in the "race memo" issues by the Obama campaign in early January:

"NELSON MANDELA

Bill Clinton Implied Hillary Clinton Is Stronger Than Nelson Mandela. "I have been blessed in my life to know some of the greatest figures of the last hundred years. [...] I go to Nelson Mandela's birthday party every year and we're still very close. [...] But if you said to me, 'You've got one last

job for your country but it's hazardous and you may not get out with life and limb intact and you have to do it alone except I'll let you take one other person, and I had to pick one person whom I knew who would never blink, who would never turn back, who would make great decisions [...] I would pick Hillary.'" [ABC News, 1/7/08; Audio]"

The Obama campaign aleged that B Clinton was saying H Clinton is more of an important figure than Mandela. That's a pretty crappy thing to have done.

It also shows that--guess what?--B Clinton goes to Mandela's birthday party every year.

They all are formulaic in that it is blathering talking heads spreading inuendo and outright falsehoods because they simply won't do their homework.

The only outlets left are NPR, PBS and a handful of newspapers.

It's actually funny that with the advent of cable news and the Internet, the same rules apply as before, which is that for fact-based journalism people still have to do their homework and go out and actually read and be informed rather than entertained.

that Obama is far more centrist and right of center than HRC or even Bill Clinton and that anyone of the many obsessive Obama supporters who thinks he is progressive is wrong.

I also said that the Obama campaign relied on creating a caricature of HRC and BC of them being rascist and right wing to win, when in fact they are neither, because he couldn't win on the issues.

And I was beaten up pretty good for it.

Now we know who the real Obama is and it is one that we can far less count on than either HRC or Edwards.

The only thing that surprises me is how fast Obama showed people who he really is.

is he the lesser evil to McCain, but is he going to be better at pushing McCain's agenda than McCain?

I am struck dumb by the inanity of the writer's analysis.

You've got it right.

What worries most about Obama, other than his lack of experience and that this crisis is showing it quite clearly, is the ability of his hardest supporters to think he is completely perfect in every way. He isn't.

Obama's ads have been weak and pathetic. They often appear to be real ads for products than they are a compelling argument for why someone should vote for Obama (which should include why they should vote against McCain).

McCain is fighting a hard battle to win the presidency while Obama appears to be easing his way toward the election. He needs to put a lot more grit into the campaign and start actually engaging his opponent.

Campaigns are horse and pony shows. They are intended to provide a view of the candidate as being the best choice for president, which means looking presidential and like you would actually do something as opposed to hang out in Hawaii.

It is not that McCain will solve the issue, but that he is ENGAGED with the issue while Obama is not. And since the one thing all voters know about Obama is that he lacks any practical experience, by not getting engaged he is showing his naivete.

This is not meant to be a vote for McCain post, but a wake up call that Obama is falling far short of the mark he needs to set to win.

But only an idiot wouldn't see the sexualized nature of putting "Dive In" on a pair of panties.

Marketers and retailers have been pushing these boundaries for years to sell more product. This is just one more example of how amoral these people are.

a quote from one of the people imprisoned with McCain in Vietnam:

"I recall John telling that story when we first got together in 1971, when were talking about every conceivable thing that had ever happened to us when we were in prison"

So the bottom line: who cares. And who cares about the "cone of silence" story too.

The bottom line is that Obama is failing to be the aggressive and hardened campaigner we were promised and while he has been on vacation, McCain has been retooling his campaign.

Get back to substance people. How is Obama going to win and when will he start presenting himself as a substantive alternative to McCain.