He always was a centrist. Because he's a Black Democrat, and because the usually reliable National Journal gave him a "most liberal Senator" rating that seems to be based on thin air, he's assumed to be a softspoken Ron Dellums or Kweise Mfume. Except for Clinton, who was to his, and everybody's, left on women's issues, he was the least liberal candidate in the primaries.

Frustrating? You bet. But at least he's been friendlier with Howard Dean than the DLC. That leaves reason to hope. And watch.

I give him a pass on the FISA bill though, bitter disappointment though it was. That battle was lost in the House, not the Senate. He had nothing to gain and a lot to lose by opposing it.

FISA was the most important issue of the Congress, and that so many Dems didn't get it is a disgrace. A solid majority of House Dems voted against this obscene "compromise," but it wasn't enough to win against the DLCers and Blue Dogs who voted with the Republicans.

The Senate is split down the middle. The Republicans, plus DLCers like Rockefeller and his friends and the wild card Lieberman, have enough votes to pass it. The only hope is a real filibuster or a hold, which any Senator, it doesn't have to be Obama, can put on a bill. When Chris Dodd tried to put one on the same bill last winter though, Harry Reid ignored him.

It's unlikely the Dems will try a filibuster with the election coming up, and Obama is busy trying to make peace with the very factions who favor this bill, thanks to the remora-like grip of Hillary & friends on the party. Thus, he has a lot more to lose than to gain.

Thanks to everyone who takes this issue seriously and doesn't give up. It may not be lost yet, but the truth is we've been losing 1st and 4th Amendment issues since 1968. As for trolls like Karen22, well, you know. You've been told often enough.

According to HuffPo, Dodd and Feingold will filibuster the FISA bill, and Reid says he will support them. Stay tuned.

"...oil and gas prices have been on a sustained upward trajectory for years. A gallon of unleaded regular was $1.55 in November 2000, and has more or less risen steadily ever since...."

To paraphrase your comment in the story on consumer confidence above this, what happened in November 2000? The election, and the U. S. government, was stolen by the energy cartel. Dick Cheney's friends have been setting whatever prices they like since then.

After reading his speech, I've sent this to the Obama campaign:

From your speech today:

"...Meanwhile, some of those in the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties reacted not merely by criticizing particular government policies, but by attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself – by burning flags; by blaming America for all that was wrong with the world; and perhaps most tragically, by failing to honor those veterans coming home from Vietnam, something that remains a national shame to this day.

.

Most Americans never bought into these simplistic world-views...."

Have you ever bothered to learn anything about activists of the 60s at all? I'm sorry, but if it weren't for them, you wouldn't be the Democratic nominee for President, you'd still be trying to desegregate a lunch counter, only now it would be a McDonalds. It was the "so-called Counterculture" that broke for good and all the hold that McCarthyism had on this country and punched the first real holes in the racism that had persisted since the Civil War. We didn't give parades for those who cooperated in the immoral tragedy of Vietnam, but we differentiated between those in both parties who caused it and those who were caught up in it. "Failing to honor the veterans" is a myth created by the discredited columnist Bob Greene, who claimed for his own purposes that "hippies spit on" vets. It's been repeated often enough that you seem to have bought into it. Only one with no real knowledge of the era could have done so.

I had hoped that Wesley Clark would be your running mate; it would have been a good balance to the ticket. To turn on one who supported you and only told the simple truth (McCain was never much of a credit to the military for reasons that have been amply stated) is craven, reminiscent of such failed candidacies as Dukakis and Kerry.

In order to be elected, you need the Boomers, and you need those who appreciate true patriots like Wesley Clarke. Time to be tutored in the real history, not the fake Nixon/Reagan/Bush version, and time to make peace with the courageous activists of the 60s who sacrificed careers and commercial success to do their best for their country and the world. Sneering at the Counterculture does not become you.

Like the bunny, it just energizes her.She's a passive aggressive PUMA who won't let go of her one idea.

For the record, I was a Dodd/Edwards supporter. Obama is the candidate, in spite of the PUMAs, but I'm afraid he's going the way of previous nominees.

My objection to Smith is not just to her unrelenting support of Clinton, but to her repeated claims that anyone who disagrees with her is stupid, sexist or, usually, both, and won't take anything but total agreement for an answer. It's that kind of meaningless heat-over-light discourse that's killing these Salon letter columns. I don't find it either well thought out or eloquently expressed.