I don't think you've read my letters. I've given plenty of kudos to Salon, for years. They're one of the best. They also publish a lot of junk, like Birthers 1,2,3,4,5,6 et al. But that's how they pay the bills; no illusions there. (Except for Camille Paglia - that's inexcusable.)

My comments are about healthcare reform. We've only been trying to accomplish it for 60 years. The absolute, and rather shocking, dominant message on Salon right now is this: Why the hell isn't Obama getting us the reform we want?

Gleen Greenwald is a national treasure, and may have led call-ins. But it hasn't happened with any of the other 20-odd writers, except for Reich urging contact. That's not necessarily their job; no illusions there either.

Unless you know something I don't, I'll wager that the majority of posters are not clogging the phone lines to the White House. It's human nature - they're busy posting here. That's fine for many, many issues that do have a "trickle-up" effect for online talk. But it wasn't working for healthcare, at least not until this week, when a lot of people started riling each other up to call and email, and which is a wonderful part of what did happen.

Calling feels good. We should all do it. That doesn't strike me as a very cynical message.

I got two responses, both negative, from posting here on Glenn's page - one from you and one from omooex. I browsed your past 20-25 pages of letters, just to know who I'm talking to - I rarely post here (even though I agree with Glenn 99% of the time), and it looks like you both rarely post anywhere else. It's fascinating to know there are circles within circles on places like Salon. One of its glories, and its peculiarities. Definitely a different mood here than on Joan's page, with the bizarre, venomous writers that can swarm there amongst the gems.

I'm not looking to impugn anyone, especially the like-minded. If you're committed, that's all I care about. You're very involved with the healthcare bill; omooex's very-resigned comments suggest he is not. (I'd be very happy to be wrong.)

You know the population here better than I, so I'll defer to your judgement and experience. I know for a fact that the vast majority of Joan's posters are much happier kvetching than acting.

I'm standing by what I said - not-hectoring and not-cynical, simply sharp and to the point: Anyone for healthcare reform, who posts but doesn't call, is nuts, and missing out on a great Democratic experience, as you know well. And I think that's a fair message for ANY of us to say right now.

Will do. Didn't mean to come on so strong, but I'm one of those "pre-existers" who lost insurance after being laid off, and now can't get it back. There are so many like me, and so many others with insurance having to make horrible choices, or getting less care than they should. When Congress starts playing around with the options, it's hard not to caught up.

But solidarity is everything.

Glenn Greenwald is a national treasure (although I liked Steve Benen more than he did today).

being used as a political carrot was crystal clear back then. But I'm glad Ridge is confirming that the "unhinged" observers were anything but.

Now, can anyone give us a make and model on the remote feed Bush wore to the first 2004 debate? The one where he gazed into space and blinked up a storm while answering, like slow-poke drivers parked in the fast lane?

"Instead of being preoccupied with the polls and with the pundits and with the cable chatter, what you guys consistently did was, you just kept on working steadily, deliberately, sensibly, knocking on doors, talking to people, talking to your co-workers, just giving people the facts, explaining to them a vision of how we're going to move forward..."

That vision includes the Public Option. Let's keep explaining it to anyone (Obama included) who needs to know.

Call, write, email - rinse and repeat.

But I do feel a burning need, this week, to remind him of what is expected, and what he's capable of.

I've been thrilled with Obama's steady attention to the issues he promised to address - global warming, economic recovery, green business. I'm ecstatic with many of his cabinet choices - SoS, Energy - not so much with others. I love that he's placed a competent Latina on the Supreme Court, and a competent Black woman as Surgeon General. I cheer his reaching out to Muslim and African nations. I'm flabbergasted that he knows how to spell PEACE.

I'm excited beyond belief that he's gotten us to the brink of healthcare reform that has eluded us for 60 years. I appreciate his pyrrhic attempts to engage the right in both dialogue and governance. But enough is enough; I damn the right for refusing to be engaged.

Now, more than ever, I think he needs our complete support as well as a swift kick in the pants.

That horse has left the barn a long time ago.

"As long as the Democrats keep falling all over themselves and each other like this, the Republicans will barely have to do any work at all to block reform."

When have the Democrats ever been as lock-step as the Republicans? It's their natures - just like the frog and the scorpion.

This is the biggest piece of reform in Congress for decades. You thought it would be easy?

They'll get there, if we keep giving them our spines to shore them up. Call, write, email.

Will Rogers: "I don't belong to any organized party. I'm a Democrat." Messy unity can still be unity.