...what is so centrist about voting for FISA? I have a hard time picturing a room filled with random Americans other than Congress, Bush and Telecom executives supporting the FISA bill. This is not a bill a centrist would love. This is a bill that a politician indebted to other politicians and telecoms would support.

...I have been more and more disappointed with each endorsement (he's better than these people), each vote (e.g., Farm Bill, FISA) and each political move (e.g., making nice with Clinton rather than holding her accountable for much of the bitterness of the campaign).

That said, I believe that the Democratic Party's primary system is to be blamed for many of his worst decisions over the past months and I'm worried that it will be to blame for decisions in the future. The process of courting the superdelegates necessarily resulted in countless deals and favors that we will never fully identify. I'm afraid that the dark legacy of the primary season will continue to bubble to the surface through similar seemingly inexplicable "calculations" by Obama and his campaign. I hope that Obama will be our president but I am also worried that he will be a president with more political debts (mostly to the Democratic superdelegates) than any president in history. This will hurt the country and limit Obama's ability to be the leader I truly expected him to be.

...they're only polls. I agree that Liasson is contradicting the polls in her comments about "the American people." However, relying on polls exclusively can be harmful. After all polls of "the American people" is part of what got us into Iraq in the first place.

I have a feeling (certainly not scientific) that if you sat down with a sampling of "the American people" and had a real conversation about the pros and cons of withdrawal and the role that the "facts on the ground" should have in the timing, you'd probably come up with something different than the results of a few multiple choice questions asked over the phone during dinner time.

...the "surge in income" that is associated with getting elected to the Senate. There is too much money in politics. So many of our country's problems are a result of the money factor or are being ignored because there's no money in solving them. The politicians have all the voters fooled, pulling the wool over our eyes with hot button (but relatively minor) issues like marriage, abortion, gun control while they collect our taxes to fund their big money games in Washington.

A marketing success story that sells a doll that sells a restaurant (including hair styling appointments for dolls) that sells books that sell movies is not selling imagination. It's selling kids their next product. These dolls are beautifully designed and made with thought and care but, these days, a doll company with a growth strategy can't stay a doll company for long. Yes, these products are higher quality and a little less mind-numbing than [fill in the blank with the Dora or Elmo product of your choice] but we need to keep our eyes wide open and make sure our kids know what's going on here. When a kid must have whatever American Girl thinks of next, they are being set up for a life of pursuing whatever Disney, whatever Apple, whatever Prada, the marketing executives figure out how to push next. Imagination is transplanted from the kids to the MBAs who want the kids to actually imagine as little as possible.

He had another sports rule. Derivatives of ping pong could not be sports.

Tennis: Ping pong played while standing on the table

Volleyball: Raquetless team ping pong played with an inflated ball and a raised net while standing on the table

...shouldn't the eventual running mate have a say in picking their chief of staff?

...but if I were writing a piece for Salon I probably would have spent the 110 minutes to watch it before referencing it twice in a post. I found this post interesting enough but this is just lazy blogging. I'm sure Salon would reimburse the $9.99 iTunes purchase price.

I understand that we need to go on living our lives and that there's nothing wrong with looking to maintain some of the conveniences and luxuries of modern living, but wake up people. These decisions are all about tinkering around the edges of the problem and thinking we can feel good about it.

Sure, I guess it's better to chose the lesser of two evils but we cannot expect to consume our way to a better planet. Lots of ordinary people like you and me need to start buying, using, traveling, eating, wasting less if we want to make a real impact here. Pablo Paster's suggestion that we stay home for vacation is the only "environmental" option here. Go ahead and pick the transportation you think is best for the environment and try to cover your tracks with some carbon credits but you're just fooling yourself. We shouldn't be allowed to feel good for killing the planet 5% slower than the next guy. It's time to get real.

The consumer plays a role here and it isn't a small one. Costs for the airlines are rising. They need to raise prices and their expectation is that consumers will cut back on their travel. As a result they are cutting their fleets, schedules and payrolls. If, somehow, consumers choose to travel just as much and are willing to pay higher prices, you can be sure that American, United, Continental, etc. will find the planes and people to serve them.