"Open Left's Chris Bowers wrote on Friday that he felt "incredibly frustrated ... [W]hy isn't there a single member of Obama's cabinet who will be advising him from the left?" Even Pat Buchanan -- not exactly the world's most liberal guy -- apparently thinks Obama needs to throw a bone to progressives after the start the transition is off to."

Thankfully, Chris Bowers isn't one of Obama's strategic advisors. Does he seriously think Pat Buchanan has the left's interests at heart when he recommends that Obama "throw a bone" to progressives? No! Buchanan wants a repeat of 1993-94, when Bill Clinton brought in a band of partisan outsiders; tried to push through gays in the military, Hillary-care, and midnight basketball; and ultimately helped to cede control of congress back to the Republicans. Obama's picks thus far have made him look much more like the Bill Clinton of 1995-96-- the one who picked his fights wisely and governed from the center. That's bad news for Buchanan and co., which is why we're seeing these e-mail blasts from the RNC.

On a slightly different topic, can I ask why this is even news? You can pretty much create any story you want by mining the blogosphere (see: the PUMA movement), but that doesn't mean you're accurately reflecting the mood of the country, or even the left-leaning corners of it. For every scattered criticism, there has been a litany of praise for Obama's handling of the transition. I realize you don't win a Pulitzer for being sanguine, but why not direct your energy at something that is actually worth investigating.

In an effort to finally answer Campbell Brown's tough line of questioning, Tucker Bounds enlists in the Alaska National Guard. Sadly, he meets his demise while on detail in the Behring Strait, after a heated encounter with Vladimir Putin leads to a fatal head-butt.

It’s important to note that most boomers were still wearing Mickey Mouse ears at the time Kennedy and King were rising to national prominence. The true foot soldiers that brought these leaders to the fore were part of the so-called “silent” generation born between the world wars. Like Generation X, they were initially derided as aimless youth (as typified in movies like “The Wild One” and “Rebel Without a Cause”), but later gained a voice by getting involved in the folk revival, canvassing for Kennedy, and marching with MLK in the deep south. They were a pragmatic generation, born of organization principles.

By contrast, the boomers were the generation of chaos. They experienced the psychodrama of assassinations, the war, and the draft, and thrust themselves into the comfort of ideological dogma. Pragmatism became the credulous plod of a simpler time. Those on the cultural right became disciples of Goldwater and later joined the Nixon youth. Those on the left embraced the radicalism of the Black Panthers and Chicago 9, or took the prescribed route of Timothy Leary.

In this Obama moment, the generational shift may have come full circle. We have embraced, and worked for, a man whose roadmap to the future does not require a single ideological route. It requires ideas and it demands us to be involved and the get back to the business of being citizens. That’s why, in spite of whatever Rudy Giuliani has to say, hope is indeed a strategy.

According to the RCP averages, Obama is polling above 50% in Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia. He's also within a percentage point of the 50% threshold in Nevada and Ohio. Let's assume, however, that the author's hypothesis holds and Ohio and Nevada break for McCain. If you give Obama all of the states where he currently polls above 50%, and give all of the rest to McCain, Obama wins with 291 electoral votes. These positions might change in the next 8 days, but, for now, this argument shouldn't keep us up at night.